By Baron Ike
The Eight Senate of Nigeria again on Wednesday, March 15 failed to confirm the appointment of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu on a substantive basis.
As the Senate did months back, Magu was rejected despite spirited efforts he put up to satisfy the senators who fired questions at hi from different angles based mainly on the report sent to the senate by the Department of State Security (DSS) over corrupt tendencies of the man fighting corruption in the country.
The senate had disqualified Magu based on the DSS’s earlier disqualification of the EFCC chief based on his failure of an integrity test by the secret police.
When it appeared to Magu that he was doing well during his screening, Senator Dino Melaye from Kogi State revealed that the Upper House was in possession of a letter saying Magu was not qualified for the job because he failed integrity test by the secret police.
Melaye said two reports from the DSS were released on Tuesday, March 14 on Magu and they all indicted him.The DSS report signed by its Director-General Folashade Bello said Magu failed integrity test
Melaye went ahead to read Paragraph 14 of the DSS letter on Magu which stated: “In the light of the foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the anti-corruption stand of the current government.”
Immediately, Magu slammed the DSS saying that the organisation had shown it had a problem when it released two different reports on him to the Senate late last year. “What do you say about credibility of that agency?” Magu asked.
The Clerk of the Senate had confirmed that earlier the Senate got a letter from the DSS and that on Wednesday, a re-confirmation of the earlier letter was also sought and got from the Senate.
The Clerk said he requested that the “DSS re-confirms its integrity report on Magu. This was what was received on Wednesday and to which Melaye referred during questioning of Magu.”