There are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari may not renew the appointment of both the Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and his counterpart at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler.
Magu, who has been rejected twice at the point of confirmation by the Senate has remained head of the anti-graft agency in acting capacity since 2015.
By November 9, Magu would have spent four years in office as the acting chairman of the EFCC and no attempt has been made by the government to re-present his candidature to the Senate for confirmation, sources said.
In the case of the Fowler, by December 9, he would have clocked four years in office as chairman of the tax agency. He was first appointed on August 18, 2015, and got confirmed by the Senate by December of the same year.
The FIRS boss has in recent times been subjected to some close scrutiny by the presidency with the query issued to him by the president chief of staff on his inability to meet revenue target.
At, some point, he was alleged to have conspired with some top officials of the revenue generation agency to defraud the organisation through duty allowances that ran to millions of naira.
However, at the end of the day, he seems to have scaled the hurdle and successfully exonerated himself of the allegations.
Magu’s case is more complex, having regard to his non- confirmation by the Senate,
the president has been under intense pressure by politicians, top government officials and others in the last few months to take a decision on his tenure in office.
While some of the lobbyists, especially influential politicians, were said to be mounting pressure on the president to drop both Magu and Fowler, there are other top politicians who are said to be in support of the retention of the two personalities to sustain the gain in their organisations.
Although, no final decision has been made concerning the two top government officials, but the likelihood of them being retained by the president remains contentious.
The options, a presidential source said, were for the president to retain them by giving them a new term, extend their tenure or drop them.
The president, for instance, could either reappoint Magu for another term of four years, in line with Section 3(1) of the EFCC Act or to replace him.
Section 3(1) of the EFCC Act states: “The Chairman and members of the Commission other than ex-officio members, shall hold office for a period of four years and may be re-appointed for a further term of four years and no more.”
It was gathered there were so many forces arrayed against Magu and his chances of remaining in the EFCC beyond the expiration of his first term tenure would depend on which of the group of the lobbyists win with the president.
Magu case was said to have been compounded by his close relationship with the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and his altercations with the Attorney General of the federal Abubakar Malami.
For Fowler, his relationship with a top chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) who has been speculated to be eyeing the position of president come 2023, seems to be working against him as well.
But some sources told THISDAY yesterday that the president might retain Magu by making him also a beneficiary of the tenure extension being enjoyed by the four services chiefs: the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar; and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas.
It was learnt that Magu, enjoyed the confidence of the president, which was why he was retained despite his rejection by the Eighth Senate, which refused to confirm his nomination as substantive EFCC chairman.
In explaining his rejection when he was first considered on December 15, 2016, the Senate had said it refused to confirm Magu based on security report, in an apparent reference to the mandatory report from the Department of State Services (DSS) on nominees for top public office appointments, available to the senators.
The then Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, had said the Senate took the decision after a closed-door meeting, adding: “The Senate wishes to inform the public that based on available security report, the Senate cannot proceed with the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The nomination of Ibrahim Magu is hereby rejected and has been returned to the President for further action.”
The same fate befell Magu when he was re-presented for confirmation in March 2017.
The Senate had again rejected his nomination as the DSS upheld its earlier position that Magu was not fit for the position.
When Magu appeared in the Senate for confirmation on March 15, 2017, Senator Dino Melaye had read out a portion of the DSS report, which stated: “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.”
During the screening, Magu had satisfactorily answered the senators’ questions but he was confronted with the DSS verdict on him.
However, he had questioned the trustworthiness of the DSS report, adding that the security agency sent out two reports on him with different contents.
“What do you say about credibility of that agency?” he had asked rhetorically.
But despite his rejection, the president had rebuffed entreaties to replace him then; thereby leaving him to continue in office in acting capacity.
Under Magu’s watch, the EFCC has recovered about N939.51billion in four years and secured about 1,636 convictions, including those of two former governors: Senator Joshua Dariye (Plateau State) and Jolly Nyame (Taraba State)
Analysts asked on Wednesday whether given the controversy that heralded his confirmation hearing, the president would just reappoint him or return him to the Senate for confirmation for a second tenure given a new found friendly relations the executive has with the legislature.
Fowler was named the acting chairman of the FIRS on August 18, 2015 to replace its former Coordinating Director, Samuel Odugbesan, who was put in the position five months earlier.
The Senate on December 9, 2015, confirmed his appointment for four-year tenure.
However, the commencement of his tenure had sparked a legal battle following a suit filed by an Abuja-based lawyer, Stanley Okwara, seeking an order of the court to sack him on the grounds that his tenure lapsed on August 18, 2019.
Okwara, in the suit No FHC/KN/CS/141/2019, had asked the Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, to order Fowler to vacate his office.
But a lawyer with the FIRS, Barry Chukwu, in an affidavit dated September 30, had countered Okwara’s claim, saying Fowler’s tenure could only have been said to have started counting in the aftermath of the Senate’s ratification of his nomination.
Chukwu, in an affidavit, had said: “Following a meeting by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 9th December, 2015, Fowler was confirmed as the substantive Executive Chairman of the FIRS.
“The following day, 10th December 2015, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, informed President Muhammadu Buhari of Fowler’s suitability for confirmation as substantive Executive Chairman of the FIRS.
“Based on this, Fowler’s appointment as Executive Chairman did not take effect on 20 August, 2015 when he was appointed as the acting FIRS Chairman.”
He also quoted a letter from the then Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to the president, informing him of Fowler’s confirmation as the FIRS chairman.
“Your Excellency may, therefore, wish to formally appoint the confirmed nominee as Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service,” Saraki’s letter, dated 15 December 2015, read in part.
The court, however, struck out Okwara’s suit, upholding the preliminary objection filed by Fowler’s counsel, Paul Erokoro, that the plaintiff had no locus standi to file the suit.
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