The Vice President of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has said that there is no provision in the constitution barring President Buhari from re-presenting the nomination of the current acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the commission.

 The Vice President who is also a Law professor made this known while interacting with newsmen at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

He revealed that the President is throwing his weight behind Magu for the position of the substantive chairman of EFCC.

The Vice President said:

It is up to the Senate to make their judgment and it is up to us say what we want to do. If our candidate is rejected, we can re-present him, No law says we can’t re-present him.

And again, there is the other argument, whether or not we need to present him for confirmation and that’s a compelling argument from Femi Falana.

His argument is that under the constitution, section 171, and if you look at that section, it talks about the appointments that the president can make. They include appointments of ministers, ambassadors and heads of agencies such as the EFCC.

In that same section 171, the constitution rightly said that certain appointments must go to the Senate such as ministerial and ambassadorial appointments. Those of heads of agencies like the EFCC do not have to go to the Senate. That’s what the constitution says.

But the EFCC Act, which of course as you know is inferior, says that EFCC chairman should go to the Senate for confirmation. I am sure that even a pocket book lawyer knows that when a legislation conflicts with constitution, it’s the constitution that prevails.

I agree with Mr. Falana that there was no need in the first place to have sent Magu’s name to the Senate, but we did so and it was rejected by the Senate, but I believe that it can be re-presented. I don’t think there is anything wrong about the fact that Senate has rejected him.

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’”.

Speaking on the report submitted by the Department of Security Service, the Vice President said President Buhari should be commended for not interfering with the report of the DSS, adding that the President however was not satisfied with the incriminating report submitted by the security agency, hence, the decision to retain the nomination of Magu.