IT isn’t an impasse in the true sense of the word, but the inability of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency to resolve the Ibrahim Magu confirmation crisis is bound to have adverse impact on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). With the resurgence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fresh from self-inflicted legal crisis, the APC may finally but probably reluctantly have to confront its own internal and external wars which it had shown no stomach to fight. If the ruling party does not urgently resolve the issues undermining its cohesion and growth, the opposition may deal it crushing blows in the next polls.
Apart from the fact that the APC is unfortunately not run as a political party, and does not have leaders in the plausible sense that the PDP now seems to enjoy, it also needs to urgently resolve the Magu confirmation stalemate that threatens to rip the party apart. The party and the presidency have unwisely allowed the controversy to fester for too long. It must come to an end one way or the other.
First, the presidency thought it had constitutional backing to keep Mr Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC indefinitely. Why it thought that made sense or was enough to make the problem go away is hard to say. Second, different legal opinions now show that in fact a closer reading of the constitution, which was promulgated before EFCC was established, indicates that the presidency is walking on thin ice in the matter. The presidency is unlikely to win in court should it opt for litigation. Having mismanaged the confirmation affair for too long, it has now reached a point where it has to decide whether to keep Mr Magu and lose everything, or sacrifice him, learn the appropriate lessons, and effectively rejig its anti-corruption war in order to fight winnable rather than sentimental wars.
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