Magu’s lawyers barred from probe panel sitting

Two lawyers seeking to defend Ibrahim Magu, the suspended acting chairman of the EFCC, were on Monday barred from attending the sitting of the Justice Ayo Salami- led Commission of Inquiry at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The two attorneys, Zainab Abiola and Aliyu Lemu, were part of the legal team of Magu, being probed by the panel over alleged corruption.

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The drama which led to their exit from the venue of the sitting started when Wahab Shittu, who had been representing Magu, tried to introduce the two lawyers, an action which was purportedly interrupted by Justice Salami who was said to have insisted that only Shittu would be allowed to defend the embattled former head of the anti-corruption agency.

Abiola, while reacting to the incident, voiced her disappointment with the conduct of the panel, saying the treatment meted out to her was unprecedented in the history of Nigerian legal system, noting that Nigerians have the right to be represented by lawyers of their choice even in the worst days of the Nigerian military junta.