No Law Stops Magu Re-nomination for Confirmation – Osinbajo

The Vice-President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo has blatantly stated that there is no law in the Nigeria
Constitution preventing the Presidency from re-nominating Ibrahim Magu, the
Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, as full-functional
chairman.

Osinbajo who is a Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of
Nigeria (SAN), made this revelation while addressing the newsmen at the
Presidential Villa.

He further stated that the Presidency is fully in support of
emergence of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the agency.

Osinbajo Stated: “It
is up to the Senate to make their judgement and it is up to us say what we want
to do.

“If our candidate is
rejected, we can re-present him.

“No law says we can’t
re-present him.

ALSO READ: Video:
Senate leader lambasted President Buhari’s aides

“And again, there is
the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and
that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana.

“His argument is that
under the constitution, section 171, and if you look at that section, it talks
about the appointments that the president can make.

“They include
appointments of ministers, ambassadors and heads of agencies such as the EFCC.

“In that same section
171, the constitution rightly said that certain appointments must go to the
Senate such as ministerial and ambassadorial appointments.

“Those of heads of
agencies like the EFCC do not have to go to the Senate.

“That’s what the
constitution says.

“But the EFCC Act,
which of course as you know is inferior, says that EFCC chairman should go to
the Senate for confirmation.

“I am sure that even a
pocket book lawyer knows that when a legislation conflicts with constitution,
it’s the constitution that prevails.

“I agree with Mr.
Falana that there was no need in the first place to have sent Magu’s name to
the Senate, but we did so and it was rejected by the Senate, but I believe that
it can be re-presented.

“I don’t think there
is anything wrong about the fact that Senate has rejected him.

“Senate has acted in
its own wisdom to say ‘no, we don’t want him’, and we can say ‘this is our
candidate… we like the gentleman and we want him to continue.”

Commenting on the report from the Department of State
Services that accused Magu of illegalities, the VP said President Muhammad
Buhari has the power to interfer with the DSS report if he wish to, but the
president decided to listen to Magu’s own justification, after which he felt
convinced to keep the anti-graft head.

“We should commend the
President for not interfering with what the DSS said.

“The DSS came up with
a report and the man who was accused refuted it.

“He explained and gave
a reason.

“When that happened,
the President looked at what Magu said and what the DSS wrote and he said: ‘I
am satisfied with what Magu said.’

ALSO READ: Video:
Senators protest and suspend confirmation of Buhari’s REC nominees over refusal
to sack Magu

“He then decided to
retain Magu as the nominee for EFCC. I don’t see any reason why that should be
contested.

“The President has not
interfered with what the DSS said. If he wanted to interfere, he would have
ordered the DSS to keep quiet. He didn’t do that, but he said: ‘I don’t think
the DSS report is meritorious enough to withdraw his nomination.’

“The President
reserves the right to say: ‘this is who I want.’

“I’m fully in support
of Magu as the EFCC chairman just as the President is,” He said.

Recall that two weeks ago, Tellforceblog reported that the
Senate halted the approval of Resident Electoral Commissioners of the
Independent National Electoral Commission in protest of the resolution of the
executive arm of the government to still keep Magu as the head of the EFCC.

ALSO READ: Video:
Senators protest and suspend confirmation of Buhari’s REC nominees over refusal
to sack Magu