‘No amount of blackmail will deter me’ — Magu speaks after Malami’s accusations

Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says “no amount of blackmail and mischief” will deter him in fighting corruption.

Speaking when he received a delegation of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, federal capital territory (FCT) council, on Thursday, Magu said those stealing Nigeria’s funds must be stopped.

A statement from the commission quoted him as saying fraudsters are devising new means to fight back.

“Those stealing, embezzling, hiding  and carrying our wealth away are not our friends. We must stop  them. We must stop looters. We must stop the industry of corruption by all means and we shall surely stop them,” he said.

“Fighting corruption is not a tea party.  More than ever before, fraudsters are devising new techniques and strategies every  day to beat established rules and systems.

“Besides, several fight-back ploys are also being fashioned to distract and discourage genuine fighters of corrupt practices. For us, all these strategies are all too-known. We are familiar with the desperation of fraudsters.

“We are familiar with their blackmail and campaign of calumny  but we will not give up. We will continue to expose and bring corrupt elements to book. We will never  give up!”

He said the commission is too focused to be distracted, and that it has a lot of results “to show for our efforts.”

Magu’s comments comes less than a week after Abubakar Malami, minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, was reported to have accused him of corruption.

The minister, who recommended his sack to President Muhammadu Buhari, was said to have accused the EFCC chairman of diverting recovered loot.

Neither Magu nor the EFCC has responded to the allegations