“Senate has acted in its own wisdom to say ‘No, we don’t want him’, and we can say, ‘This is our candidate… we like the gentleman and we want him to continue.’”
These were the views as expressed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a professor of law, at an interaction with news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He made it clear that there is no plan to drop the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, even after the Senate had rejected his nomination for the job on two occasions.
The Vice President stressed that the Senate lacked the powers to determine which appointee of the president should go, saying: “the President reserves the right to say, ‘this is who I want.’ I’m fully in support of Magu as the EFCC chairman just as the president is.”
He said that the constitution gives the president the powers to appoint certain heads of government agencies, including the head of the anti-corruption agency, with or without parliament approvals.
“It is up to the senate to make their judgment, and it is up to us what we want to do. If our candidate is rejected, we can represent him. No law says we can’t represent him.” [myad]
