The Chairman of Presidential Advisor Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay (SAN), has admonished the citizens to accept President Buhari’s decision to keep the service Chiefs in the face of escalating security situation in the country.

He said this in an interview with VINCENT KALU of Sun Newspaper

According the professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, President Buhari is a military General and should know more about people he is working with adding that civilians cannot know more than the president.

“I don’t have any position. All these emotional calls don’t impress because the president, who is a military general should know more about the capacity of those who are working for him, and I think we should accept his judgment. We the civilians cannot be the ones to know more than Buhari. So, we should accept his judgment. I accept his judgment because he is a military man and he has all the information.”

As to which should comes first between rotation of power and competence for the 2023 presidency, Sagay said each region has competent people adding that talking of competence now would amount to clamoring for perpetuation of power on a particular region in disguise.

He said rotation of power assuages the feelings of people and gives them the confidence that they are playing a role in the affairs of the country and are respected.

“People should not be too clever because I’m seeing some cleverness in those who are now talking of competence. I would be more comfortable with them saying that, if the part of the country from which they do not come has spent eight years, then if they talk of competence I would take them very seriously.

“I see some of these talks of competence as a disguise for wanting perpetuation of power in one section of the country. There is no doubt about it; both parts of the country have competent people, there is no monopoly of competence. If this is an arrangement that assuages all the feelings of the people to give them the confidence that they have a role in running the country and that their side of the country is respected in a manner that things are done and organised in the country, then that political peace and quietude that rotation brings is worth it and be respected. Either side has competent people.

“Those who are calling for competence should say, let somebody who is competent from the side, in this case, the South come out and we support that person, otherwise, there will be room for suspicion that we are dealing with irredentism or some sort.”

Sagay further reiterated his position that the probe of Magu and the EFCC by Justice Salami Panel is being done in contravention of Magu’s right to fair hearing.

Advancing reasons for his assertion, Sagay said one of the Agencies accusing Magu of corruption is part of the Panel.

“We have to be very clear about what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the process of fair hearing; I don’t have anything at all against the panel, and I have the greatest respect for Justice Salami and he knows it. But what I criticised were two things: One, most members of the panel came from agencies that are in fact the accusers of Magu, that is contrary to our normal principle of fair hearing. You cannot be the accuser and the judge.”

Furthermore, he said” those who petitioned made their cases when he wasn’t there, and after they had finished, then he was asked to make response and that is the information I have; again that is contrary to all our procedures in the common law. In accordance with the constitution, when somebody is accusing you of something, you are supposed to be present; first, you are to be served in advance of whatever you are accused of, then you will be there when the person is making a case, so that you have an opportunity of challenging him, cross examining him and exposing any lies or inconsistency if there are. Those are what I criticised, the procedures of the exercise.”

When asked, Sagay said he has not, as Chairman of PACAC, written to President Buhari to make his grievances known about the panel. According to him, is not his duty

“Of course, we write advices from time to time, but not on this particular issue. What is the point, he has appointed a panel, do we tell him to dissolve it?

“You talked about the issue of fair hearing; one would expect that you would have complained to the president on this

“I don’t regard that as my duty. I have made my views known and I’m sure that Justice Salami would know and would therefore ensure that in spite of all the inadequacies and drawback I mentioned, justice will still be done.” Sagay said