Nigeria chief of anti-corruption agency accused of ... corruption suspended

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has suspended the director of the main national anti-corruption agency after charges of embezzlement, the attorney general's office said on Friday.

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Ibrahim Magu, director of the Commission for Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC), has been questioned since Monday by a " special committee of inquiry " to explain charges of " embezzlement and seizure of insubordination ", but the authorities refuse to say that this former close relative of the president was formally arrested.

Its suspension "will allow the commission of inquiry to continue its work according to the laws in force, " said the Nigerian prosecutor's office and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in a statement. It is also said that he would be replaced by Mohammed Umar at the head of the EFCC, " pending the conclusions of the ongoing investigation ".

One of the pillars of the presidency

Ibrahim Magu was one of the pillars of the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, who had made the fight against corruption, this " cancer " of the nation, one of its main governance objectives.

The case, which many suspect to be primarily political, comes after the leak of a note from the attorney general for President Muhammadu Buhari, dated June, containing a series of allegations against Magu. Many observers have denounced accusations motivated by political interests, and many people, in the Nigerian financial and political elite, wish to oust him.