TheCable

Ibrahim Magu, former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is set to retire from the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) as his ambition of becoming an assistant inspector-general of police (AIG) appears beyond reach.

The former EFCC boss is billed to retire from the force on May 5, 2022, after 32 years in service.

Magu, who was born on May 5, 1962, will clock 60 this year, making him eligible for retirement from the NPF in accordance with Section 18(8) of the new Police Act.

Reliable sources within the NPF informed TheCable that Magu has commenced his one-month terminal leave ahead of his eventual retirement.

The development means that Magu will not be getting the promotion he so desires. TheCable had previously reported that he was being considered for promotion by the Police Service Commission (PSC) despite the allegations against him.

On July 7, 2020, when he was still at the helm of affairs in the EFCC, Magu was arrested, detained, and suspended as the acting chairman of the anti-graft agency — after he appeared before a panel probing allegations of gross misconduct against him.

The panel led by Justice Ayo Salami subsequently recommended Magu’s removal as EFCC boss “for failing to properly account for N431,000,000.00 security votes/information fund released to the office of the Executive Chairman of EFCC between November 2015 and May 2020”.

He was also accused of causing the “disappearance of evidence, stoppage and suppression of cases under investigation and prosecution, and omitting to arrest suspects” in cases involving a former deputy senate president and a former managing director of Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).

Magu was further accused of suppressing high profile cases involving four former governors, one of whom is currently a senator.

However, since the panel submitted the report in November 2020, only a few recommendations have been implemented.

Magu has repeatedly denied the allegations against him through presentations made before the panel by Wahab Shittu, his lawyer.

The former EFCC boss also maintained that he never enriched himself while serving as head of the anti-graft agency, adding that the allegations against him are “unfortunate, spiteful, malicious and intended to cruelly destroy my hard-earned reputation”.

Meanwhile, the federal government is yet to make public the White Paper on the report of the Salami panel.