Chidi Samuel || Senator Ali Ndume, the former senate majority leader, Thursday broke ranks with his colleagues in the Senate and denounced their decision to reject the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) based on allegations levelled against him by the DSS.
According to Senator Ndume, who many believe lost his job as the Senate majority leader because of his earlier opposition the to rejection of Magu by the upper house, if the senate could reject Magu as a result of allegation made by DSS, then Bukola Saraki has no business presiding over the affairs of the senate because he currently has a pending case in court.
Senator Ndume made his position known while speaking on Chanels Television programme, Sunrise Daily.
He said, “We have all been accused, I have been accused of sponsoring Boko Haram, the senate president is still going to court.”
“Same as other members who have cases in court, yet they occupy seats in the senate. So, if you say because of the allegations he (Magu) should not be confirmed, then I should not be a sitting senator and Saraki should not be there as senate president.”
Reminded that Buhari met Saraki and Yakubu Dogara at the presidential villa in Abuja, a day before Magu was rejected at the senate, Ndume stated that given his personal knowledge of the President, he will definitely not have brought up the case at the meeting.
“The president I know is not the kind of person that would interfere in such matters. I would have been surprised if the president discussed the issue of confirmation when he met the leaders of the national assembly recently, that would have led to the issue of lobbying for him to be confirmed,” he said.
“There is no crime against lobbying, in fact, we are supposed to lobby. I lobbied most of the senators but sometimes you keep on learning because this is kind of new. A government where you (APC) are in the majority and the president re-nominates a candidate, and also in a situation where the issue at stake is an accusation; in the normal circumstance and by our constitution, an accusation is not conviction.
“The issue now is not the house in his name, it’s a house called the safe house and that was prompted because, after his acting appointment and the rigorous work he is doing, you can’t afford to have somebody like that living in Karu or a densely populated area.”
Commenting on the eloquence of Magu, Ndume said: “The bottom line is that we are trying to fight against corruption and if we ask: ‘is Magu doing his job?’, the answer is yes, undoubtedly. He is not an actor, he is a policeman doing an investigation. He is not supposed to talk about what his job is in an articulate manner, it’s not important. What he is doing is not a TV show.”
