It’s been a good few weeks for Ibrahim Magu, the acting chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Magu can reel off a list of cases, at various levels in the chain of corrupt transactions, in which his organisation is making substantial progress.

His profile is also set to rise appreciably with the prospect of former oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke (2010-2015) being charged before October by the British authorities — perhaps along with some of her key business and political accomplices —  for fraud and money laundering.

This could prove enormously helpful to President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, given the general sense of drift in his government combined with the fact that Nigerians see his anti-corruption credentials as among his strongest qualities.

With Alison-Madueke held up as a symbol of grand corruption of former president Goodluck Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government, her trial will be exploited relentlessly by the circle around Buhari. It was Magu, first as a senior investigator for the EFCC and then as its acting chair, who played a leading role in tracking down the sources and documents in the case.

He then handed over to the Metropolitan police in London a data dump of hard drives from various computers operated by EFCC staffers. The most valuable material apparently came from former business associates of Alison-Madueke.

Magu’s fortunes will now depend on whether the British authorities – who have held Alison-Madueke’s passport in London and over US$30,000 of her money since October 2015 – succeed in getting a conviction. After a slow start, the Metropolitan police say they have been making good progress and are sounding much more confident about the case.

If the case against Alison-Madueke is proven, the EFCC will then pursue its own case against her and her network around former president Jonathan and other senior figures in the PDP.

Usefully for Buhari’s government, this case will … [article continues] …

This is an excerpt from an article in our monthly Nigeria Focus publication.