Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay (SAN), has said that the Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has failed, this time, on the issue of the acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu over the return of his name to the Senate for confirmation.
“I know the case of Magu thoroughly. And the allegations (of corrupt practices against him) are spurious. There is no reality in them. The whole thing was distorted to give a wrong impression about Magu.
“I expected Senator Sani as a human rights person, as far as I know, a person from the civil society that he should have stood up for the truth. He should have known that Magu was victimized deliberately. He should have stood against that.
“He should have stood for the oppressed person who has been doing a marvelous work in the fight against corruption. But this time he stood on the wrong side.”
In a statement in Abuja, Sagay accused Shehu Sani of fighting everybody, including his state governor, Nasiru el-Rufai of Kaduna state, the federal government and his own political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), even as he asked Journalists to conduct their own investigations on the Magu’s case.
“You as a journalist, I know you people investigate. You know a lot. The allegations are all false. He did not rent a flat by himself; he was put in a house by government. So what is his business if government paid more than it should have paid?
“It’s all just cooked up to prevent him from being appointed. So I don’t see why a senator should attack the presidency for returning Magu’s nomination to the Senate.
“Maybe the Senate has its own interest which is contrary to the interest of the country. And he (Shehu Sani) is standing with the Senate in that regard. So, that’s his business.”
Sagay confessed however that he did not know much about the alleged corruption against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, insisting however that Senator Shehu Sani is only just fighting his own political “battles” which influenced his views on the SGF.
“With regards to the SGF, I don’t really know much about that. My own view is that they should give him a hearing and if at the end of it, they consider that he’s liable,then they should come to the conclusion and condemn him if they want. But they should give him a hearing. That’s all.
“I don’t really know the basis of that comment he made. I think it’s a political statement. It’s not factual. He’s a political antagonist of his own party. He doesn’t get on well with the governor of his state, and he doesn’t get on with the Federal Government. So it is his political battle that is colouring his statement. It’s not factual.” [myad]
