Prof. Itse Sagay has claimed that Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), will not allow new EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, to succeed.
Sagay, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said the reason is because the minister nominated the new Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman for the position and would interfere in his duties.
The chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) alleged that Malami has been derailing the anti-corruption war of the Federal Government since he took over the position.
Sagay added that Malami had become too powerful and must not be allowed to directly control the activities of the EFCC and ICPC.
He maintained that Malami had never been inclined to support the independence of all anti-graft agencies in the country.
The senior advocate asserted that Malami is a politician who has all the weaknesses and loads of a politician, thus he is subjected to all kinds of temptation.
“This issue is a very big question because I noticed that they both come from the same state of Kebbi and they may even be related. For me, that is not a very healthy thing because the chairman of the EFCC and the EFCC are supposed to be independent,” Sagay said in an interview with Punch Newspaper.
“They are not politicians, they are trained security officers. The attorney-general is a politician who has all the weaknesses and loads of a politician. He has people he is obliged to. He has people who are close to him. Some of them may be criminals who might have committed crimes. In fact, some of them may deliberately do things because they think they know the attorney-general.
“So, in such a situation, if Bawa is related to the attorney-general, then there will be a problem because he will not be able to do his job freely because the attorney-general will certainly interfere. He has already indicated his tendency to interfere in both the EFCC and the ICPC with the regulations he purported to make months ago. So, I am not comfortable at all that the possibility that they might be related.
“So, inasmuch as the removal of Magu to me looks unsatisfactory, we have to move on and if he is as good as his credentials indicate, then I think the future looks promising for the EFCC.”
