Senate Leadership meets to resolve Magu’s imbroglio
The Presidency may have renewed pressure on the Senate to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the substantive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as the leadership of the Upper House met last night to decide his fate.
The meeting came barely 24 hours after the leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) met with party lawmakers in the National Assembly on how to end the rift between the senate and the executive arm of government.
The lawmakers were reported to have urged the party leadership at the Wednesday closed session to ask the Code of Conduct Tribunal to drop the alleged false assets declaration charges against Senate President Bukola Saraki as the only recipe for peace.
Senators at the meeting also asked the APC to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to call his aides to order if he wants a genuine ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Senate leadership was said to have met last night in an undisclosed location in Abuja to review the requests of the APC, including the confirmation of Magu as the EFCC boss.
The Senate had twice rejected the nomination of Magu as the EFCC chairman following an adverse security report by the Department of State Services (DSS). The DSS had in the report insisted that Magu was unfit to head the agency. But the Senate leadership in a meeting last night however reviewed the Upper House decision on Magu, the yet to be passed 2017 Appropriation Bill, its hardline stance on the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) boss, Col, Hameed Ali (rtd), and other requests by President Buhari.
Details of the meeting were sketchy last, but sources said it was the continuation of the consultations between the party leadership and the lawmakers to end the rift between the Presidency and the Senate.
He, however, said that any decision will still be subjected to another debate by the senators on the floor of the Senate next week. There were however indications that the President may resend Magu’s name to the Senate for confirmation next week.
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