The Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), on Thursday, blasted ‘bitter and frustrated’ Senator Shehu Sani comments for the dissolution of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC).
He said the call was due to the Presidency’s refusal to remove the acting chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.
The Senate refused to confirm Magu on two occasions, following which the Presidency, with PACAC’s support, backed the Acting EFCC chairman to remain in office.
Sagay said it was the Senators’ failed bid to truncate the anti-corruption war by removing Magu that has saddened the likes of Sani.
The eminent professor of law denied ever defending the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal who was indicted by a committee headed by Sani.
Sagay said: “I’m not surprised at Senator Sani’s effusions because they (Senators) are very, very frustrated by the manner in which we have insisted that Ibrahim Magu continues to head the EFCC.
“They had hoped that they would be able to run down the struggle against corruption and make it totally ineffective by removing Magu. We stood against it. We have succeeded, so they are angry.
“His response is one of bitterness that we have stood in the way of their attempt to run down the anti-corruption struggle.
“It is his frustration that he is expressing in that manner, so I’m not at all surprised.”
Sagay said it was not true that he defended Lawal.
“I never did. That is a blatant lie. I never defended Lawal.
“He (Senator Sani) should stop limiting his whole commitment to democracy on his little job as a sub-committee man that investigated Lawal.
“He had a life before then and he’s going to have a life after that. He should not limit all his existence on that little report that he wrote. That is over now.
“We’ve gone beyond that and he has to move on,” the PACAC chairman concluded.