By Kolawole Ojebisi
Mr. Ibrahim Magu, the suspended Acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has applied to Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Adamu to be released on bail.
In a letter dated July 10, 2020, Mr. Oluwatosin Ojaomo, Magu’s legal representative, asked the IGP to grant bail to his client on “self recognisance.”
Magu was arrested on Monday and whisked to the presidential villa in Abuja where he has been grilled by an investigative panel headed by a retired president of the Appeal Court, Ayo Salami.
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He was later moved to area 10 force criminal investigation department (FCID) of the police in Abuja where he has been held since Monday.
Magu’s travails followed a memo raised by Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami accusing him of grave malfeasance.
He was alleged to have mishandled the recovered loot and sold seized assets to associates.
He was also alleged to have refused to subject himself to the supervision of the office of the attorney-general.
In a statement on Friday, Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, media aide to Malami, said President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the suspension of Magu as acting chairman of the anti-graft agency. Also, the President asked Director of Operations at EFCC, Mr. Muhammad Umar, to continue to head the Commission in acting capacity.
Meanwhile, the presidential panel probing the activities of the commission on Thursday grilled some operatives of the Commission dubbed the ‘Magu Boys’ — a group of operatives believed to be favoured by Magu.
The ‘Magu Boys’ have been accused of committing several atrocities — including blackmailing and extorting suspects, appropriating exhibits to themselves and selling off forfeited or seized assets without remitting the proceeds to government coffers.
In the letter to the IGP, Magu’s lawyer reminded Adamu of his “recent directives to all police formations in Nigeria not to detain any suspect for any offence which is bailable in nature due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world which Nigeria is not an exemption”.
Ojaomo stated that his client had denied all the allegations being investigated by the panel including the ones leveled against him by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Malami (SAN).
According to Ojaomo he “has provided both documentary and oral evidence to clear the air on all the allegations.”
