Opinion- MAGU: Buhari don fall our hand, hoohaa!

By Sam Ibemere… ‘Buhari don fall our hand,’ a friend belched as we sat glued to a Nigerian television network that was offering a ‘free show’ on the screening of Ibrahim Magu by the Nigerian Senate.

It was Wednesday, and the country was being regaled with a live telecast of what I would rather refer to as the trial of Nigeria’s anti-graft Czar.

Magu, the stone-faced Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had been appointed in December, 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari to hunt down the country’s thieving public officials. How much success he made of the task is now history, probably with a little to remember.

Filled with suspense and plenty drama, and like a scene out of a movie, the curtain on the Ibrahim Magu script fell rather abruptly at the Senate. That was shortly after the rascally Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, drew a sheet of paper purportedly authored by the Department of State Security Services (DSS).

It turned out a Joker. Just by a stroke of the pen, Magu had been declared a person without integrity by the secret police! It sounded the death knell to a once promising career, though punctuated by some rancorous moments. I remember that he had been tagged corrupt severally and was even rejected earlier by the same Senate that now had him literally pinned to the floor.

But the sucker punch from the DSS meant that the drama was now over, and I could not agree any less with my friend who was now muttering, ‘Shebi, I told you. Buhari don fall our hand.’

True, it is difficult to comprehend or even appreciate how the returnee President allowed this to happen. What was Buhari thinking when he admitted entrance to the enemy to rubbish his nominee in whom he had double confidence? Or, was it not the same Magu whose name he resubmitted a second time, claiming he had implicit confidence in him?

My tommy still churns since Magu got thoroughly shamed at the Senate. I have always regarded him as a fine officer whose spartan life, I thought, was exemplary. He bubbled with so much energy that you’d think he could kill a lion with bare hands. Magu had many kills to show but I won’t oblige him this space since this is about his principal who put his head on the guillotine.

His task was herculean, no doubt, and the odds weighed heavily against him. It’s no secret that Magu was up against a gang who would not let him be because he had gone after them earlier. It was learnt that Magu had the heads of nearly 20 Senators on the chopping board, allegedly for crimes perpetrated against the state. A handful of these were former governors. Revenge was the name of the game!

So, it’s really troubling how Buhari led his fabled gang to a shattering defeat at the alter of the Nigerian Senate, knowing full well that he was up against a formidable force. Did he prepare for the battle? Me thinks the President had no strategy at all. It is very embarrassing that he could not correctly read the in-fighting and poor cohesion within his team.

Indeed, it is even more shocking to imagine that the DSS report that nailed Magu could crawl its way to the Senate without Lawal Daura, kinsman to Buhari and head of the secret police, not obliging the President inside details of the findings against the anti-corruption boss. One great poser constantly playing up in my head is, why allow the President to deliberately tow a path of defeat?

It is difficult to fathom how trusted fellas of the President, working with him in the presidency, could lead him blindly. Are we to imagine that he was deliberately denied the damning report on Magu? If yes, why? If no, why did Buhari stubbornly proceed to run with Magu a second time and allowed himself to be shamed twice?

If it is true that he was kept in the dark concerning Magu’s shortcomings, does it not suggest very worryingly that the President is either not in control or that he has lost control? As a matter of fact, does it not confirm long held concerns that a cabal resides within the presidency and that Buhari is at their mercy.

All doubts to the in-fighting was cleared Wednesday by Magu on the floor of the Senate when he queried the credibility of the Daura-led DSS report that ‘ruined’ his career. Alluding to the contrasting reports that were once written on him, he asked rhetorically if the DSS should be taken seriously for unprofessionally indicting and commending him at the same time.

‘Buhari don fall our hand, hoohaa,’ my friend screamed a last time. It was a nudge that threw up further posers. Is it not curious that Mr President could not manage the cold war between and among his team? Why did he allow the Magu-Daura face-off to fester beyond the confines of the presidency? Many troubling questions, indeed.

Buhari should take all the blame for the fall of Magu. He threw him at the Senate sharks, and it’s hard to believe that he did so because he ‘belongs to everybody and nobody.’

Magu was consumed by a failure of strategy, and that is my take on the whole Magu saga. I fear that the country risks more losses if lack of well defined strategies continue to dominate key decision-making processes.

For now, it will be interesting to see how Buhari handles this loss to a Senate bent on asserting its authority within the nation’s power vortex.

 

Ripples Nigeria…without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now