Magu: Ali Ndume on his own —Senate •Says EFCC boss stands rejected

THE Senate, on Tuesday, distanced itself from the comments credited to majority leader, Senator Ali Ndume, over the possible reconsideration of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, who was rejected by the chamber last week.

Senate spokesman, Sabi Abdullahi, who spoke in Abuja, on Tuesday, said the Senate still stood on its earlier resolution which rejected the nomination of Magu.

Senate leader, Ndume, was quoted in the media on Tuesday that the upper chamber had not rejected Magu’s nomination.

Ndume, who spoke to State House correspondents, on Tuesday, said the Senate did not reject Magu as the EFCC chairman.

Speaking contrary to Senate resolution of last week,  Ndume had said on Tuesday that “what happened was that when we slated his confirmation for Thursday, then we had an issue on a letter from the DSS that could not allow us to continue with the confirmation without further clarifications.

“So, we now concluded that since we have a letter that we cannot ignore, we couldn’t do the confirmation. It was not that we sat down to take a decision that we have rejected Magu. I want to come out clearly on that.”

But Senate spokesman, Senator Abdulahi, who addressed Senate correspondents in Abuja, put a lie to Ndume’s submission.

“Our votes and proceedings are the official records of what

transpired in the chamber. I briefed you on Thursday to the effect that the Senate is announcing that in view of security reports, we were unable to confirm Magu.

“We then rejected and returned the nomination to (President) Buhari for further action,” he said.

Abdulahi also stated that his briefing was informed by media reports and series of calls and text messages from reporters.

According to him, it had become crystal clear for the Senate to clarify issues, saying that “the eighth Senate  believes in its integrity, we  uphold and promote the rule of law which is the basic thing about our democracy.

“We are committed to doing things differently to

stabilise the polity in the collective interest of Nigerians.”

He then displayed a copy of the votes and proceedings of the Senate for Thursday.

“Our votes and proceedings are the official records of what transpired in chamber. Media reports emerging especially from interviews granted by Senator Ali Ndume meant we have to clarify issues.

“For the records, I am the official spokesman of the Senate and I intend to discharge this with honour and integrity because the sanctity of the institution is crucial to the sustenance of democracy.

“To clarify, I have only one point of reference, which is, the votes and proceedings. The Senate also deliberated on EFFC with regards to security report available but referred the other nominees for screening, since nothing much was found about them. This is the only official position of the Senate.

“What I say, I say on behalf of the Senate. Nigerians should be guided. There is no ambiguity in what we said,” he added.

The senator described the Senate as an institution working with the constitution, adding that “whatever rules we use, our powers are drawn from the constitution.”

On the allegations that there were two separate reports, the Senate spokesman said truth is always sacrosanct, adding that “for the records, the leader that I know is Saraki and administrative leader is the clerk to the Senate. As a routine, when you have a nominee, security report should be given.

“The report we are talking about was sent to the acting clerk of the Senate. If you talk about two reports, which one is the second one?

“I heard a report was sent to Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) but I am not holding brief for him. He is a liaison officer.

“We are all guided by processes. If Buhari is going to re-submit the communication for re-nomination, he must come with the necessary reports, either negative or positive.”