Oluwatoyin Ojaomo, a lawyer to embattled chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has given an insight into Magu’s reported arrest on Monday.
Mr Magu was intercepted by security operatives at the Wuse II office of the EFCC and whisked away to face a Presidential Panel in Aso rock over allegations of insubordination and corruption.
Speaking during a Channels Television interview on Monday night, Ojaomo disclosed that his client is supposed to be praised instead of vilified.
According to him, Magu was being grilled by the panel because the amount of money recovered by the agency from corrupt individuals was different from the figure the agency officially declared to the Presidency.
In his words; “The Pro-Panel is just to clarify the activities of the organization. They are only going there to clarify the activities of the commission.”
“The EFCC reports to the President and if the president says..yes..there is a lot of allegation..that Magu has done this, Magu has done that..The president felt that because of the image of the commission and these allegations that are flying around…He wants to know what are these allegations. Let it be investigated for it to be clarified and the EFCC chairman went there to clarify.”
“What is even basically the allegation? They said the amount the EFCC chairman announced to the presidency is different from what that was paid, that the money is more. They are not saying it is lesser, it’s more than the amount. What you should understand is that the recoveries by the EFCC is an ongoing operation.”
He also added that the forces behind corruption in Nigeria are fighting back.
“When you are fighting corruption, the forces behind corruption are so powerful, they are more powerful than COVID-19”
“You can imagine what is happening. Instead of Magu to be celebrated, those powerful corrupt persons who have the media backing them are trying to call a dog a bad name so they can hang it” he said.