Court Affirms That Buhari Can Do As ‘He Pleases With Appointment Of EFCC’s Chairman’

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday has thrown out the suit seeking the removal of Ibrahim Magu as the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The plaintiffs had sought Magu’s removal on the grounds that the Senate had twice rejected his appointment and refused to screen him to take up the position in a substantive capacity.

They argued that Magu, who has been acting as the EFCC chairman since 2015,  having been rejected by the senate, was not fit to continue to serve in that capacity.

Delivering judgment, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu held that there was a lacuna in the law by not providing for the timeframe within which a person could act as EFCC’s chairman.

She noted that although the lacuna ought not to be exploited to “install” Magu in office in substantive capacity without the Senate confirmation, it had given the President as the appointor “the proverbial yam and the knife to do as he pleases” with the appointment of the EFCC chairman.