President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, have reacted to an application seeking the removal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu.
Magu’s appointment as acting EFCC chairman, despite his repeated rejection by the Senate, has constituted the basis for several applications pending in court.
One of the motions brought in March by two lawyers, Ahmed Yusuf and Peter Asa, asked the court to remove Magu as the EFCC chairman and restrain the Presidency from “being able to forward his name a third time to the Senate.”
According to the motion, the lawyers, who described themselves as concerned Nigerians, submitted that the decision of the executive to allow Mr. Magu remain in office, despite his rejection amounted to “an attempt by the Presidency to force Mr. Magu on the Senate.” Reacting to the application, counsel to Buhari and Malami questioned the authenticity of the motion and asked the court to dismiss it for lacking in merit.
The objection, published yesterday, was signed by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Dayo Apata, Tijani Gazali and a team of lawyers. They argued that the applicants have no locus standi to bring the motion, in the first place.
They noted: “We humbly submit that a perusal of all the processes in the court’s file will reveal that the plaintiffs instituted the action wrongly as they do not possess the locus standi to institute same.
The plaintiffs do not have sufficient interest in the determination of this matter. ‘’The plaintiffs’ civil rights were not breached by the defendants. The plaintiffs did not meet the necessary pre-condition to filing this suit.”
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