DSS arrests EFCC Chairman, Magu for Corruption

In the Buhari era, two of the country’s most weaponized law enforcement agencies have been the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS). Today, both clash as one of them is used to decapitate the other in a disconcerting reflection of the war against corruption.

What? 

The DSS arrested EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu over allegations that he owns four properties and transferred funds abroad through a third party.

Why is this important? 

Magu has had a checkered history in leading the country’s latest anti-corruption agency. In the first term of Buhari’s administration, he was a sore point between the Executive and the Bukola Saraki led legislature who refused to confirm him owing to previous allegations of corruption leading to Magu’s title being ‘Acting Chairman’ of the EFCC since his appointment in 2018.

This also highlights the befuddling stance that has underpinned the Buhari administration’s approach to anti-corruption- one of the key anchors of its campaign. In picking Magu in the first case and going to war with institutions designed to act as a check and balance, it acted as an advert for the administration’s inefficiency.