The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim
Magu, on Tuesday evaded questions on the recent calls for the probe of the Chief of
Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, for purchasing properties worth $1.5m in Dubai,
the United Arab Emirates.
Magu was departing the Rockview Classic Hotel, in Abuja, venue of a one-day
workshop on ‘Anti-corruption, ethics of the legal profession and justice sector,’
when some journalists approached him for an interview.
The event was co-organised by the Nigerian Bar Association and the
Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption.
Incidentally, while speaking earlier at the event, Magu had lamented various
corrupt acts including a situation where a civil servant paid as much as over
N800m as legal fee to lawyer.Magu had adjusted himself to take questions from
the journalists but as soon as the first question bordering on Buratai was asked,
he sharply turned back and jumped into his waiting car.
Magu queried how a civil servant could have legitimately earned as much as
N800m to pay a lawyer.
This came few days after some prominent legal practitioners, including Mr. Femi
Falana (SAN), had urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sack Buratai,
if the Army chief failed to voluntarily resign following the revelation that he
purchased the Dubai properties.
Magu had while speaking at the event had said his commission would start going
after lawyers who aid their clients in laundering money.
He said the commission would not spare anybody, including Senior Advocates of
Nigeria, who were found to have helped others to buy properties with stolen funds.
Other speakers at the event included the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud
Mohammed, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Mr. Abubakar Malami; and the Chairman, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN).
Magu said, “I don’t want to mention some of our strategies, but we will start going
after people now. If you are involved in laundering money, we will go after you it
doesn’t matter who you are because the law does not respect anybody – whether
you are the EFCC chairman, whether you are SAN.
“Sooner or later we will look at how people assist people to buy properties with
stolen funds, how people assist others to escape justice and we will go after them.
“But for now, I want to say, please, join us in the fight against corruption to save
this country so that our children and grandchildren will have a greater Nigeria.”
He said the issue of human rights needed to be de-emphasised in the ongoing
war against corruption, as he urged lawyers to ply their trade while placing the
interest of the nation above any other consideration.
Represented by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun,
the CJN said some recent events had called for self-assessment by players in the
legal circles and justice system.
The CJN said, “Indeed, recent events within the profession have no doubt thrown
up questions bordering on the ethical content of our profession and justice system,
as well as its readiness to properly fight against corrupt practice.
“If charity, as they say begins at home, self appraisal must by necessity, start
there too.
“This event calls for honest discourse and impartial considerations on a wide range
of issues- legislative, fiscal, institutional and more importantly ethical, as affect the
conduct of our Justice system.”
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