I Was Never Investigated By any Agency- Magu News

I

I Was Never Investigated By any Agency- Magu of
EFCC

The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, on Thursday, December 13, 2018,
told Justice Doris T. Okuwobi of the State High Court, Ikeja, Lagos
that he had never been investigated by the Department of State
Security, DSS.

Magu stated this while giving evidence in a N100m suit he filed
against the publisher of The Sun newspaper and four others over an
alleged defamation.

Joined in the suit are the Editor, Saturday Sun; Fred Itua,
James Ojo and Lawrence Enyoghasu.

Magu is seeking compensation for libelous imputations and
statements made against him in a story published in the March 25,
2017 edition of The Saturday Sun entitled: “Magu Under Fresh Probe
Over 2 Abuja Mansions”.

At today’s proceedings, Magu, who gave evidence in-chief, told
the court that the statement of oath written by him through his
lawyer, Wahab Shittu, represented his evidence in the
proceedings.

Led in evidence by Shittu, Magu told the court that the
publication was done deliberately to damage his reputation.

“The publication said I was under probe.

“But no government agency, has probed or investigated me since I
came to the EFCC,” he said.

In his further testimony, he told the court that the publication
was completely false, adding that “I cannot buy a house in Maitama,
even if I have the money because houses there are so expensive.

“I live a modest life. My wife is a civil servant. We have only
one house in Karu site, Abuja; and when I retire, I will go back
there. The onus is on the defendants to produce the owners of the
properties. The publication has done a lot of damage to my
reputation and that of my lineage.”

When Magu’s lawyer sought to tender a letter of complaint
written on behalf of his client to the publishers of the newspaper,
counsel to the defendants, Charles Enweluata, objected to its
admissibility on the grounds that it did not carry the legal
practitioner’s seal.

He, however, said the “irregularity was curable.”

In his response, Shittu said: “It does not derogate the
admissibility of the letter since the witness has identified and
confirmed it.

“It is written on my letter head. The contents are relevant to
the proceedings and the author of the letter has also confirmed it.
He, therefore, urged the court to discountenance the objection by
the defence counsel and admit the document in evidence.

In her ruling, the Judge ordered the claimant’s counsel to get
the seal. “It will be admissible upon the fixing of the seal to the
letter”, she ruled.

When the seal was eventually produced, the court admitted the
document in evidence.

The claimant also confirmed to the court his statement in
paragraph 18 of the said letter, where he mentioned that the
Federal Government, through of the Office of the then Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, officially appointed him as the
acting Executive Chairman of the EFCC.

The letter dated November 9, 2015 was admitted in evidence as
exhibit.

When the counsel to the claimant sought to tender a series of
letters of promotion as well as letters of transfers that Magu had
received in the course of his career as a police officer, the
defence counsel objected to their admissibility on the grounds that
they were electronically generated.

Counsel to the claimant, therefore, applied to withdraw the
letters in the circumstance, saying, “I will apply to withdraw the
documents, which are said to be electronically generated for now,
even though there is certification for them.”

Giving further evidence, Magu told the court that the second
story by the newspaper entitled” Magu: The Untold Story”, was not
intended to correct the damage created by the first report done on
him.

“They went to my town and interviewed several people. They
wanted to get more things to damage my reputation. But they were
disappointed.”

Under cross-examination by counsel to the defendants, Charles
Enweluata, Magu admitted that his wife, Fatima, was not a party in
the suit but that she was allegedly linked to the properties
mentioned.

When asked if he read in the story that he was being
investigated by the DSS, he said “Yes, I read the story.

“But there was no name of any agency investigating my wife or
me

“The paper did not mention DSS.”

Also, when the defence counsel put it to the claimant that the
story carried the name of the Department of State Security as the
investigating body, Magu said: “The paper did not mention DSS.

“I do not agree that the DSS investigated me or my wife in any
manner.”

Consequently, the matter was adjourned to February 28, 2019 for
further hearing.

Tony Orilade,

Ag. Head, Media & Publicity