Magu cries to IGP for bail

The travails of suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu continues as he has written to the Inspector-General of Police to release him on bail.

Mr Magu, through a letter sent on his behalf by one of his lawyers, Mr Oluwatosin Ojaomo, asked the IGP to grant him bail as a serving police officer.

The embattled anticorruption czar has been appearing before the presidential panel from the detention of police facilities in Abuja since his arrest.

In a letter dated July 10 with the IGP office’s acknowledgement stamp bearing the same date, his lawyer requested that Magu be granted bail “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.