Ibrahim Magu: Don’t Do To Him What He Did To Others – Ozekhome Begs Buhari, Nigerians

Human rights lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, has pleaded with Nigerians and those in authority, not to accord Ibrahim Magu, the suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the same shameless media trial as he (Magu) did with most public officers accused of corruption.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also said that the former EFCC boss be presumed innocent until he has been subjected to the due process of law, through a free and fair public trial.

“The fact that he did it to others did not and does not mean it was right. Two wrongs can never make a right.

“As I argued again and again, like a broken record, the anti-corruption ‘war ‘ was never a regenerative and ethics-defining Risorgimento war.

“It was purely a score -settler against rights activists, the opposition, public critics, plural voices and dissenters.”

Our correspondent  reported on Tuesday that Magu was suspended as Acting Chairman of the EFCC by President Muhammadu Buhari after he spent the night in a police cell at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) Headquarters in Abuja.

This followed a six-hour grilling by a presidential panel, chaired by Justice Ayo Salami, a former president of the Court of Appeal.

Premier news first reported on Monday that Magu was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS).

He was said to have been arrested over allegations that he owns four properties and also allegedly transferred funds abroad through a third party.

In 2016, DSS accused him of living in a N40m mansion paid for by one Umar Mohammed, a retired military officer.