Osinbajo, AGF Malami comments on EFCC boss Magu cause ripples in presidency

Controversy has trailed the remarks made by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), in which he appeared to dismiss the opinion of the Acting President in support of Magu’s continued stay in office as merely his personal opinion, prompting the presidency to deny the reports.

Malami was reported to have said on Wednesday after Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that the position of Osinbajo on Magu was not a decision of the Federal Executive Council.

Also, Malami said since the council did not at any time take the decision, there was no need to make any clarification about Osinbajo’s statement.

The AGF reportedly said this while responding to questions from State House correspondents for council’s position on the face-off between the Senate and the Presidency after the weekly FEC meeting presided over by Osinbajo.

The justice minister was further quoted as saying, “The fundamental consideration about the alleged statement is the fact that at no point ever did the Federal Executive Council sit down to arrive at the decision in one way or the other as far as the issue of nomination or otherwise is concerned.

“So, I do not think it constitutes an issue for the Federal Executive Council to make any clarification about because it has never been considered by the FEC.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who spoke after Malami on the same issue said that there was an “excellent mechanism” in place to resolve whatever disagreement that might arise between the executive and the National Assembly”.

But the Presidency responding on the matter on its twitter handle, denied that Malami said Osinbajo was on his own.

The Presidency tweets read, “This is false (media report on Malami) and misleading. The Attorney General did not at any time or in any way say this.

Read also : Senate mulls Osinbajo’s impeachment, insists Magu must go

“The Attorney-General’s point is that decisions on Presidential nominations are matters for the Presidency and not the Federal Executive Council.”

These controversies followed Osinbajo’s interview in April, where he ruled out the possibility of President Muhammadu Buhari replacing Magu, whose nomination the Senate on two occasions refused to approve as a substantive chairman of the EFCC.

Osinbajo during the interview agreed with the argument of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, that Senate confirmation was not needed for the EFCC chairman based on the provisions of Section 171 of the constitution.

The position of the acting president infuriated the Senate, which during its plenary on Tuesday, vowed never to receive any requests for confirmation into executive positions from the Presidency. The lawmakers further demanded that Osinbajo withdraw the statement “without further delay.”

Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, was also quoted to have said on Wednesday that Osinbajo’s statement on the confirmation of Magu was a personal opinion.

Shehu, had during an interview with journalists in Abuja, explained that Osinbajo made that statement as the vice-president when Buhari was in Nigeria and still ill.

“Our understanding is that some remarks made by the Acting President some months ago when he was the Vice-President, because the President was around at that time, an opinion he gave is being misconstrued.

“A senior lawyer in the country offered an opinion, in which he said some categories of public officers, traditionally cleared by the National Assembly, need not go through that process, that those ones can be appointed through presidential fiat; they don’t have to go through screening.

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“But several months ago, in his position as Vice-President, Prof. Osinbajo gave a personal opinion, saying what this lawyer said makes sense.”

According to Shehu, the current face-off would be resolved through dialogue.

He added, “There is no official position by the government of Nigeria, and the Federal Executive Council never sat down to take a decision to say that some categories of officials will not be sent to the National Assembly any longer.

“The authority of the Senate, under the Constitution to screen and pass nominees, has never been questioned by the government or the Federal Executive Council.

“From the time the Vice-President gave that opinion till now, more than 20 nominations have been forwarded to the Senate and quite a number of them have been screened, sworn in and are now occupying positions.

“Therefore, this is not a big issue as some people want to make it. The party, government and the National Assembly will sit at a round table and this matter will be discussed and resolved.”

 

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