THE Presidency has been advised to hands off the politics surrounding the appointment of a substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Mr Olufemi Aduwo, Country Director of the Centre for Convention on Democratic lntegrity (CCDI), a non-governmental organisation, gave the advice while reacting to the refusal of the Senate to confirm Ibrahim Magu as the chairman of the commission.
Aduwo, in a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune on Thursday, said the executive arm of government “has played too much of dangerous politics with the appointment long enough and it is time to back off”.
He also said, as a political appointee, Magu has come to the end of the road, adding that the DSS report only helped in the validation of the reported NPF Administrative records on him concerning his character.
He raised some posers over the refusal of the Senate to confirm Magu, adding that most commentators failed to acknowledge some salient issues surrounding his appointment.
According to him, Magu, as a career public servant, is subject to the provisions of the Public Service Rules and Regulations (PSRR).
“He was administratively appointed as Acting Chairman by President Muhammad Buhari as successor to a relieved former chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde.
“The president didn’t send his name as a nominee for substantive appointment within the stipulated 180 days maximum that career public servants can serve in acting capacity before confirmation.
“Assuming that Magu’s nomination constitutes a confirmation of some sort, then we can now agree that, that translates him into a political appointee, believing that he had an understanding that his career as a serving police officer has ended and will never seek returning to the Police.
“If however he was contracted in quasi role, the failure of getting a hearing earlier than the expiration of the second 180 days was what provided him some window of opportunity to allow for the presidential right of representation to Senate.
“If Magu had volunteered to leave the Police, then as a political appointee, he may still be re-presented. However, administratively, he has lost out and has become a case for internal administrative disciplinary process as per PSRR.
“As a political appointee, Magu has morally come to the end of the road and should go back to his village. From all indications, the DSS report has only helped in the validation of the reported NPF Administrative records on him concerning his character”, he said.
The CCDI Country Director also said all persons nominated for public appointments have a DSS report on them to facilitate decision-making on them by the appropriate authority.
If in doubt, he challenged the media to make use of the FoI Act to confirm crosscheck this fact to confirm from DSS if there were differences in the report shared with the President and the Senate.