Senate President, Bukola Saraki has told Nigerians to stop blackmailing the Senate, for rejecting the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In an interview with Leadership newspaper, Saraki said the report by the Department of State Services (DSS) nailed Magu and not the upper legislative chamber.


“We need to stop this issue of blackmail. You must follow the process. Was it Senate that wrote his report?

“The security report they gave Magu, was it manufactured by the Senate? The screening of Magu was live, we didn’t do it in the dark room at night? Everybody saw the performance.

“And lastly, they say because some senators have cases with the EFCC. Yes, some senators have cases with the EFCC but these cases were made public even before Magu became the chairman of the EFCC. So, is it Magu that made your case with EFCC? Why will everybody hold that against Magu?

“I think that is propaganda. Most of these things should be based on facts. And I think we need to separate facts from things that are not true. So, my own view is that those views will change because at the end of the day the views are not based on facts. I have given you fact. And the fact is that what is the responsibility of the senate based on the constitution? We are to make laws,” Saraki said.

On the refusal of the Comptroller-General of Customs to appear before the Senate, Saraki remarked: “When we talked about Customs, we were talking about something in the interest of Nigerians, but some people now take to blackmail and propaganda and now say it had something to do on car duty. At the end of the day, when the facts came out you could not hear anything anymore.”

The Senate had twice turned down the nomination of Magu, who is currently acting chairman.