The Senate has, for the second time in three months, rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
It follows by reaffirmation of the Department of State Services (DSS) that the nominee lacks integrity to lead the country’s anti-corruption agency.
Senator Dino Melaye raised the DSS report dated March 14 when Magu appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Magu answered questions put to him satisfactorily but the senator from Kogi West raised the content of the DSS report.
“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,” Melaye stated, reading from the report.
Senators then challenged Magu’s suitability given the report against him, prompting the nominee to question the credibility of the DSS which he said dispatched two reports on him with varying contents same day.
“What do you say about credibility of that agency?” he asked.
The report had alleged, among others, that he was staying in a N40 million mansion paid for by a corrupt businessman.
Magu, who said he did not want to comment on the DSS report to avoid friction between the EFCC and a sister agency, later said a house was provided for him by a senior official in presidency because he stayed at a suburb of Abuja and worked late.
Magu was appointed acting EFCC chairman in November 2015 following the sack of Ibrahim Lamorde.
The Senate rejected his nomination when he appeared for his first screening in December.
