The Presidential panel probing Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has reportedly recommended his immediate sack.
In its interim report submitted on Wednesday, the panel headed, by retired President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami, also recommended that Magu should be prosecuted over allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
Magu is also accused of violating the Code of Conduct law by allegedly failing to declare all his assets when he assumed office in 2015.
The panel also recommended the appointment of a new chairman for the anti-graft agency “without further delay”.
In a letter dated July 3, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari had directed the panel to submit its “interim reports to me from time to time”.
Mohammed Umar, former Director of Operations at the EFCC, has been in charge of the commission in acting capacity since July 6 when Magu was whisked before the panel by a combined team of Department of State Services (DSS) and officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) of the police in Abuja.
He was detained in Area 10 of the FCT police command for nine days before being granted bail.
Magu’s travails followed a memo by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who accused him of “grave malfeasance”.
He was alleged to have mishandled the recovered loot and sold seized assets to his associates.
Magu, a Commissioner of Police, was also alleged to have purchased a property in Dubai, United Arab Emirates using a pastor as a conduit.
He has since denied all the allegations which he described as “nonsense”, once saying: “what I am going through is a case of dog eats dog”.
The former acting chairman of EFCC has also accused the panel of not giving him fair hearing.
Through his counsel, Wahab Shittu, Mr. Magu has written several letters to the panel demanding to be served a copy of the charges against him in order to prepare for defence.
Buhari appointed Magu in 2015 but the Senate declined to confirm his appointment, citing a DSS report which indicted him of corruption — although Magus denied any wrongdoing.