Justice Ayo Salami, Chairman of the presidential panel probing the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, has advised Wahab Shittu, Magu’s counsel, to worry less about the report of the panel and be more concerned about his client.
President Muhammadu Buhari had set up a panel to probe corruption allegations levelled against Magu.
The panel, in its interim report, was said to have recommended Magu’s sack and prosecution.
It was also said to have recommended the appointment of a new chairman for the EFCC “without further delay”.
But Shittu, who accused the panel of not giving his client fair hearing, had claimed that those recommendations were not made, accusing the media of peddling falsehood.
Shittu, in a statement on Sunday, said Salami refused the request that those who published the stories should be summoned by the panel.
Magu’s lawyer also quoted Salami as saying he did not leak the interim report of the panel.
Quoting Salami, Shittu said, “The story arising from the so-called interim report is not from us. What should concern you and your client is what the chairman said. Inviting the promoters of the story will not serve any useful purpose as they will not disclose their sources of the story.”
Magu was arrested on July 6 and whisked before the panel by a combined team of Department of State Services and officers from the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the police in Abuja.
He was then detained at Area 10 of the FCT police command for 10 days before being granted bail.
The travails of Magu, a commissioner of police, followed a memo by Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who accused him of “grave malfeasance.”
The suspended EFCC boss was alleged to have mishandled the recovered loot and sold seized assets to his associates.
Magu was also alleged to have purchased a property in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, using a pastor as a conduit.
He has since denied all the allegations which he described as “nonsense”, once saying, “What I am going through is a case of dog eats dog”, which is sitting at the presidential villa in Abuja.