Itse Sagay, a professor of law and Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC), says Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is currently investigating more than 20 senators for “misuse of public funds”.
Speaking in an interview conducted by Next Edition, the transcript of which was made available to the ICIR, Sagay said the ongoing investigation is the reason Magu is unpopular with the National Assembly.
He stated that Magu enjoys the support of the key figures at the Presidency because it has been confirmed that he cannot be bribed.
He also said former governors, both of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All progressives Congress (APC), who are currently under investigation by the EFCC, have tried to bribe Magu but the EFCC Chairman would not budge.
“We may not want to admit it, but integrity is a rare phenomenon in this country,” Sagay said when asked why the government was insisting on giving the job to Ibrahim Magu despite the face-off between the Presidency and the Senate?
“He is the best we know. We know that he can’t be bribed. We know [that] no one can approach him. That is why he is so unpopular with the National Assembly. Right now, as I am speaking, he is investigating over 20 of them.”
Asked if the investigation was without recourse to the party affiliations of the people in question, he said: “Yes, irrespective of the political party; I need not mention that.
“For instance, take a look at former governors, both APC and PDP. They are all being investigated. And there is concrete evidence on the grounds of major misuse of public funds. They are being investigated and nothing will shake him.
“He has been approached and he has completely defied every attempt to make him succumb to all these blandishments of money and threat and so on. When you are able to identify someone like that, it is a terrible risk to use the argument that there are many Nigerians because you don’t know what the next person would do.
“He is the best we have at the moment. We are sure that he can’t be bribed, no one can influence him and he has no fear of anybody no matter their position. That is why we are supporting him right from my own low level to the high level of the Vice President and the President.”
Reminded of the Department of State Services (DSS) report on which the Senate predicated its rejection of Magu’s nomination, Sagay said: “I don’t want to comment on that but it is a very sad case. Let me put it like that. Very sad.”