The inspector-general of police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu has ordered the withdrawal of policemen attached to Ibrahim Magu, former acting chairman of the
The inspector-general of police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu has ordered the withdrawal of policemen attached to Ibrahim Magu, former acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), TheCable is reporting.
A police source said the officers guarding the official and personal houses of Magu have been withdrawn. In a signal to the assistant inspector general (AIG), police mobile force (PMF), PMF squadrons one to 79, force secretary, Adamu directed the redeployment of the mobile policemen at the EFCC. While ordering those withdrawn to report at the force headquarters in Abuja on Monday morning, the IGP said only the staff of EFCC should be allowed access into the commission’s premises.
The development comes hours after Magu, who is being probed by a presidential panel asked the IGP for bail. Magu, through a letter sent on his behalf by one of his lawyers, Mr Oluwatosin Ojaomo, had asked the IGP to grant him bail as a serving police officer and on self-recognisance, adding they are ready to provide a credible surety that will ensure the availability of the embattled acting chairman anytime he is needed for the purpose of investigation.
The letter was copied to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Chairman of the Presidential Probe Panel on the activities of the EFCC, Justice Ayo Salami (retd). It was also copied to the Chairman of Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption, Prof Itsay Sagay (SAN), and the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Investigation, Federal Criminal Investigation Department, Garki, Abuja, where Mr Magu is said to be detained.
Magu, in the letter, also reminded the IGP of his recent directives to all police formations in Nigeria, asking them not to detain any suspect for offences which are bailable in nature due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is ravaging the world.
Magu was arrested on Monday and whisked to the presidential villa in Abuja where he was grilled by the panel headed by Ayo Salami, a retired president of the appeal court. He was later moved to area 10 force criminal investigation department (FCID) of the police in Abuja where he has been spending the night since Monday.
Magu’s travails followed a memo by Abubakar Malami accusing him of grave malfeasance. He was alleged to have mishandled the recovered loot and sold seized assets to associates. He was also alleged to have refused to subject himself to the supervision of the office of the attorney-general.
