The hunter turned the hunted monday as security operatives intercepted the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, and took him to the Presidential Villa, Abuja for interrogation by a presidential panel investigating sundry allegations of wrongdoing against him.
Accounts of how Magu got to the seat of power yesterday differed. While one said he was flagged down by security agents as he drove out of his Wuse II Annex Office and shepherded to the Villa, another said he was invited to face the panel.
Anyway, Magu was still with the panel at the Old Banquet Hall of the State House at press time.
Magu’s grilling by the presidential panel prompted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to ask the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to show the genuineness of its war against corruption by allowing unhindered investigation of the anti-corruption chief, while he steps aside.
The embattled EFCC boss was said to have arrived at the State House about 1:40 p.m., where he was ushered into the wing, accompanied by one of the EFCC’s lawyers, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs.
There were initial reports that Magu was arrested by the Department of State Security (DSS) but in a statement, the agency refuted the report.
‘’The Department of State Services (DSS) wishes to inform the public that it did not arrest Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as has been reported by sections of the media.
“The service, has since, today, 6th July 2020, been inundated with enquiries over the alleged arrest,’’ the Public Relations Officer of DSS, Dr. Peter Afunaya, stated.
A similar statement by the EFCC’s spokesman, Mr. Dele Oyewale, said Magu was neither arrested nor forced to honour the invitation, adding that a member of a legal team from the EFCC was with him at the panel.
‘’Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, on Monday, July 6, 2020, honoured an invitation by a presidential panel reviewing the activities of the EFCC, at the Banquet Hall wing of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
‘’He was served the invitation to the panel, while on his way to the Force Headquarters, Abuja for a meeting. The panel is currently sitting at the presidential villa in Abuja,” EFCC stated.