A spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced the president has named a new chief for the country’s anti-corruption agency, also known as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said the new acting chief is Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, who is Nigeria’s assistant commissioner of police. He replaces Ibrahim Lamorde, an appointee of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Lamorde was recently the subject of a controversy involving various alleged corruption cases.
Garba Shehu would not say whether Lamorde had been forced out except to say that Lamorde was going on terminal leave effective Monday, ahead of the formal expiration of his tenure in February next year.
“It is true Ibrahim Lamorde has been asked to go on terminal leave. He has up until February next year to serve his term. The government’s position is that he can take his accumulated leave and step aside. The government has asked one of his senior directors in the organization, Ibrahim Magu, to take over,” Shehu said.
Shehu said he did not know whether Lamorde requested to go on terminal leave or if President Buhari had asked him to leave.
“Again it’s difficult to say in a direct way whether the issue is one of confidence or the lack of it. As with many other officials in government, this one too was inherited by the new administration. He was doing the job or not doing it depending on where you stand,” Shehu said.
He said he knew of no ongoing corruption investigation against Lamorde as part of Buhari’s new war on corruption.
In August this year, Lamorde denied allegations that $5 billion went missing at the EFCC. He described the allegations as a smear campaign.
