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Chairman of THISDAY editorial board has revealed how suspended Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EfCC) acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu harassed two allies of President Muhammadu Buhari without the president’s knowledge.
Adeniyi narrated how Magu stopped former defence minister, Theophilus Danjuma from purchasing an aircraft, after raiding the residence of former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar few weeks earlier.
He said the suspended EfCC boss carried out the actions without the knowledge of the President, adding that it took time before Buhari could convince Danjuma that “he knew nothing about what was clearly power mongering by a reckless public official”.
The former spokesman to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua disclosed that Danjuma’s recent visit to the villa was borne out of rage over Magu’s action.
“Former Defence Minister, Lt General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) was recently at the villa to see President Muhammadu Buhari. It was a visit borne out of rage,” he wrote in his weekly column on Thursday.
“A billionaire oil tycoon, Danjuma had paid for the purchase of an aircraft. His cheque bounced! The order to withhold payment, he was told by his banker, came from Magu!
“From what I gathered, it took some time before the president could convince Danjuma that he knew nothing about what was clearly power mongering by a reckless public official.
“A few weeks before that incident, the Minna residence of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar was raided by EFCC operatives who “turned the house upside down”.
“The president also got to know only after the deed had been done.
“While neither Danjuma nor Abdulsalami is above the law, power should never be used to harass and ridicule people, whether high or low. And even where there are justifications, for citizens at that level, these actions should certainly not occur without the president’s knowledge.
“Besides, a man who would take on the high and mighty in a society like ours, including members of the president’s immediate family, must also live above suspicion.”
The THISDAY editorial board chairman further noted that the President had been petitioned on many occasions over the manner with which the embattled EFCC boss was auctioning recovered assets.
“A man who would take on the high and mighty in a society like ours, including members of the president’s immediate family, must also live above suspicion,” he added.
“In the past five years, Magu has at different times made claims about the hundreds of billions of Naira recovered from ‘treasury looters’. But subsequent auctions for recovered assets did not follow due process, resulting in choice properties being handed out to suspected cronies.
“Since Abuja is a city where residents know the dirty secrets of people in power (including who is sleeping with whose spouse), the president was being inundated with petitions that Magu is not above board in his dealings.”
