How Magu Harassed Abdulsalami, Made TY Danjuma Pay Buhari Rage Visit - Adeniyi

Former presidential spokesman, Segun Adeniyi says he has always not fancied the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu "given what my late principal, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua told me about him".

He also stated that critical agencies of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration perceive Magu as a danger to the system with a presidency official telling him that, “he (Magu) doesn’t mind bringing down institutions to get at individuals, sometimes just for media adulation”. 

Adeniyi, made this disclosure in a backpage column published by ThisDay on Thursday entitled: 'Magu and the Abuja Power Game', where he also revealed how Magu “harassed” TY Danjuma and Abdulsalami Abubakar, two allies of Buhari without the President’s knowledge.

The column reads in part, "Former Defence Minister, Lt General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd) was recently at the villa to see President Muhammadu Buhari. It was a visit borne out of rage. A billionaire oil tycoon, Danjuma had paid for the purchase of an aircraft. His cheque bounced! The order to withhold payment, he was told by his banker, came from Magu! 

"From what I gathered, it took some time before the president could convince Danjuma that he knew nothing about what was clearly power-mongering by a reckless public official. 

"A few weeks before that incident, the Minna residence of former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar was raided by EFCC operatives who “turned the house upside down”. The president also got to know only after the deed had been done."

The veteran journalist, who conceded that neither Danjuma nor Abdulsalami should be seen as being above the law, was quick to point out that Buhari must be carried along whenever government officials have reason to "harass and ridicule citizens at that level".