THE Court of Appeal in Abuja has ruled that Ibrahim Magu’s prolonged stay as acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was unlawful, overturning a Federal High Court judgment that had upheld his continued retention in office.
News Point Nigeria reports that a three-member panel of the appellate court delivered the judgment on Monday in an appeal filed by Johnmary Jideobi, a lawyer, who had challenged Magu’s continued stay in office after the Senate twice rejected his nomination as substantive EFCC chairman.
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The appeal arose from a judgment delivered by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on December 4, 2019, in which the judge dismissed the suit challenging Magu’s continued stay as acting chairman of the anti-graft agency.
Magu served as acting chairman of the EFCC from 2015 until July 2020, when he was suspended from office.
Jideobi had instituted the suit before the Federal High Court in March 2017, arguing that Magu could not remain indefinitely as acting chairman after the Senate had rejected his nomination.
In the 2019 judgment, Justice Ojukwu held that the EFCC Act, particularly Section 2(3), did not restrict the powers of the President to retain Magu as acting chairman of the commission.
The judge had noted that the lacuna in the law handed the later former President Muhammadu Buhari the “proverbial yam and the knife to do as he pleases,” since there was no specific period stipulated for someone serving in an acting capacity.
She further held that Order 1(2)1 of the Senate Rules cited by the plaintiff applied only to ministerial appointees and could not be enforced on the position of the acting chairman of the EFCC.
The judge also ruled that Jideobi lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.
Dissatisfied with the decision, however, Jideobi appealed the lower court’s verdict, arguing that the chairman of the EFCC has a four-year tenure, renewable once, and that Magu had exceeded the stipulated period without Senate confirmation.
He further argued that Magu’s acting appointment had ended by operation of law after the Senate rejected his nomination.
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Jideobi consequently asked the appellate court to set aside the Federal High Court judgment and grant the reliefs sought in his original suit.
The respondents in the appeal were the Senate, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the EFCC and Magu.
