Ibrahim Magu and the Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, appeared
before a Senate panel to discuss the clash between EFCC and DSS
officials.
While speaking during the panel on Thursday, Magu said
Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, and the State Security Service, SSS.
He
spoke in response to comments by Francis Alimikhena, chairman of the
Senate ad-hoc committee constituted to investigate the face-off.
Alimikhena
while insisting that the hearing be held in presence of journalists had
referred to the face-off among the agencies as street fight.
He
said; “There is nothing hidden because they fought in the street. They
fought dirty and Nigerian people will like to know what led to that
fight. What happened in that dirty fight, I don’t think it’s something
we should hide from the public.
“For me, I would prefer that we
do this openly for Nigerians to see. It’s a shame on all of us for
sister security agencies to be fighting dirty in the street. Which means
we don’t have spirit de corps. For them to fight in the public then
they should tell us what led to that fight.”
The senator was the only one among the five committee members who wanted the hearing made public.
Magu,
who did not wait for the commencement of the closed-door session before
venting his dissatisfaction at the senator’s choice of words, told the
senator that the EFCC never engaged in street fight but went out to
carry out its constitutional duty.
“Mr. Chairman, I really don’t
know. There was no street fight, there was no dirty fight. We did not
fight anybody. So, the reference to street fight dirty fight, I don’t
think its proper sir.
“There was never a street fight. My men
went there, they were not allowed to execute the due warrant of arrest
and the search warrant.”
The senator did not respond to his comments, as the lawmakers then agreed to hold the hearing behind closed door.
The
committee also agreed to hold separate hearing for each of the
agencies, starting with the EFCC, before inviting the three to a final
hearing.
