EFCC Has Recovered Over N500 Billion, Says Magu And Other Newspaper Headlines Today

For Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, it was time yesterday to give account of his stewardship. Speaking before an audience of dignitaries, including President Muhammadu Buhari and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Patricia Scotland, Magu said the EFCC had recovered over N500billion from looters between November 2005 when he took office and now. THE NATION reports that 486 convictions have been secured. Recall that the President twice presented Magu’s name for confirmation. He was rejected by the Senate but the Presidency said he remained the best man for the job.

No Hiding Place For Treasury Looters In Nigeria, Buhari Vows heads THE GUARDIAN. President Muhammadu Buhari has said his government will not rest until it hunts down conscienceless looters of the nation’s treasury. He stated this while commissioning the new headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja yesterday. He refuted allegations the administration is orchestrating a witch-hunt, stressing: “We are determined within the laws to call people to account.” Still on the issue of corruption THE PUNCH headline reads a shocking revelation from President Muhammadu Buhari saying he was Ousted, detained for fighting corruption. Buhari says during his rule as a military head of state, he was ousted from office and detained for three years for fighting corruption. Buhari said this at the inauguration of the new corporate headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Abuja on Tuesday. The President, who ruled from December 1983 to August 1985 before he was ousted in a coup by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), said all the corrupt persons that were arrested during his administration were released while the loot recovered from them were returned. He said, “This government promised to fight corruption but corruption will continue to fight back.  (During) my first attempt to fight corruption, corruption fought back successfully.  I was removed as the head of state, detained for three years and people who we recovered stolen money from were given back their money and I remained in detention up until my mother had to die to save me from detention.”

Meanwhile NEW TELEGRAPH reports Dogara saying to Buhari; “You’re not the only corrupt-free Nigerian”. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has declared that there were millions of Nigerians spread across the globe who are corrupt-free aside President Muhammadu Buhari. Dogara, who spoke yesterday at the commissioning of the new Corporate Headquarters of EFCC in Abuja, acknowledged that President Buhari has won global acclaim for his hard stance against corruption. He said: “The chairman made a statement about a reference that was made of Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt country. Incidentally, that statement was made in a city that is the home of illicit funds. The person also stated that Nigeria leads the world in criminal enterprise. In fact, that in the University of Lagos, you can study and major in credit card fraud. “That’s the narrative out there, but that must change due to the fact that we have, seating before us here, a president who has won global acclaim as being corrupt free. I can tell you that he is not alone in Nigeria, there are millions of Nigerians that we come across day-by-day that are corrupt-free.”

Moving to politics and the race for the 2019 presidential elections, NIGERIAN TRIBUNE discloses El Rufai’s words saying the Exit of nPDP won’t stop Buhari in 2019. DAILY SUN also reveals 2019: nPDP to Buhari: We’ll Shock You. Aggrieved members of the new Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) within the All Progressives Congress (APC) have vowed to shock the ruling party and President Muhammadu Buhari, if their grievances are treated with levity. Spokesman of the Alhaji Kawu Baraje faction of the nPDP, Mr. Timi Frank, during a parley with newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, also dismissed the Senator Abdullahi Adamu faction which members he said were “mere noise-makers.”
The group recently petitioned the national chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun and copied President Buhari among other chieftains of the party complaining about marginalisation. In the petition dated April 27 and signed by Baraje and Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the group gave the party seven-day to meet with its members to resolve the differences. As the ultimatum expired yesterday, Frank who reinterated that the threat contained in the letter was not an empty one, said the faction would soon meet to take a decision.

Lopsided Police Recruitment Exercise Sparks Outrage heads DAILY INDEPENDENT. There is indignation following lopsided recruitment process being applied by the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the police hierarchy for the ongoing recruitment of 6,000 Constables in the country. President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the recruitment of 6,000 additional policemen as part of fresh measures to address the nation’s security challenges. This is coming after the recruitment of 10,000 officers and men, who included specialists, to address the shortfall in the numerical strength of the force and equip it to combat crime in the country.

On almost every newspaper today, INEC makes an appearance saying; INEC, speak on This Election Rigger& Save Nigeria’s Democracy”. Finally on Business Day senate inflates 2018 budget by 6% to N9.1trn. Six months after President Muhammadu Buhari presented a draft copy of the proposed 2018 budget to a joint session of the National Assembly on November 7 last year estimated at N8.612 trillion; the Senate yesterday increased the budget by 6 percent to N9.12 trillion. BusinessDay investigation shows that the Budget increase was the highest in six years since the 2012 increase of 6.2 percent by the legislative arm of government under the Goodluck Jonathan led administration. “It is not surprising that there was an increase of the budget, especially in light of the political cycle and recent increase in oil prices,” Rafiq Raji, Chief Economist at Macroafricantel.