The Nigerian Senate has expressed worries over the prolonged silence from the presidency with regards to the confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
Mr. Magu was, last week, denied confirmation as the substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] by the upper chamber after delaying it for about six months.
Consequently, the Senate says it is awaiting the advice of President Buhari on which way forward.
According to the Senate, ‘security report’ available to it showed that Magu is not fit to be chairman of the body.
But speaking to state house correspondents on Monday, Senate Leader, Ali Ndume says the Senate did not reject Magu but only delayed his confirmation owing to the said security report.
He says the Senate cannot reject Magu but only send his nomination back to the presidency for review.
“Let me say categorically that the senate did not reject Ibrahim Magu.
“What happened was that when we selected his confirmation for Thursday, we had an issue or a letter from the Department of State Security (DSS) that could not allow us to continue with the confirmation without further clarifications,” he said.
“So, we now concluded that since we had a letter that we could not ignore.
“So, it was not that we sat down to take a decision that we had rejected Magu.
“So, I want that to come out clearly.
“We specifically asked the chairman on media to issue a statement.
“What we said was that on that Thursday the senate could not go ahead with the confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu and that we are in possession of a letter from the Department of State Service which requires clarification from Mr. President, who is the head of the government.
“That was what happened.
“Even if the rejection is going to come, it is not going to come from the senate because we have not done anything anyway.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had in July written to the Senate to screen and confirm Magu for the position.
However, the Senate has since been postponing the confirmation date but finally scheduled Thursday December 16 for the confirmation.
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