Malami and the Transience of Power

After endorsing the illegal removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria, raiding of judges’ homes at night by the operatives of the Department of State Services, and disobedience to court orders, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is crying persecution over his court-ordered detention, Ejiofor Alike reports

What is happening currently to a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), who has been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since December 8, has again confirmed the transience of power.  For eight years, Malami bestrode Nigeria’s legal system as an accuser, the prosecutor and a judge, under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The former Chief Law Officer of the Federation openly disrespected court orders, endorsed the illegal removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen; approved the raiding of judges’ homes at midnight by the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), and turned a blind eye to the unlawful detention of Nigerians.

Speaking in November 2016 when he appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives at the National Assembly, Malami told the Nigerian judiciary that he was yet to recover from the raid of the homes of some judges at ungodly hours by the operatives of the DSS on October 7, 2016, that his office gave backing to the raid.

The committee, which was chaired by Hon. Garba Dhatti, was investigating all cases of invasion of property and arrests of persons by the DSS from May 2015.

The former AGF did not cite any court order that authorised the DSS operation.

However, one of the affected Federal High Court judges, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, had described his arrest as a ‘vendetta and revenge’ by Malami, saying that he once ordered Malami’s detention for alleged professional misconduct.

In an October 11, 2016 report he submitted to the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, Ademola narrated how 45 DSS operatives invaded his residence and ‘abducted’ him.

He said the DSS operatives broke his front door and the door to his living room, which gave him the initial impression that they were armed robbers.

“After some minutes, I heard the door fall to the ground and about 15 minutes also, some people began to hit my living room door. This movement continued for about at least an hour, then I heard footsteps on my staircase and these unknown persons finally reached my bedroom door,” he narrated.

Ademola was vindicated in April 2017 by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which discharged him of all 18-count charges of fraud brought against him; his wife, Olabowale, who was a former Head of Service in Lagos State, and a senior lawyer, Joe Agi (SAN).

The former AGF, who authorised the illegal and violent raid on judges’ homes, had last Wednesday, protested the lawful search on his premises in Abuja and Kebbi in Kebbi State, his home state, by the operatives of the EFCC.

Contrary to the impression he created, the EFCC said its operatives merely conducted a lawful search for its ongoing investigation of the former minister, unlike the DSS operatives who broke into the homes of judges at ungodly hours like bandits.

During his Senate screening for reappointment as minister in July 2019, Malami, who also arrogated the judicial powers of the higher courts to himself, had told the federal lawmakers that he deliberately disobeyed some court orders in the interest of the public.

He was responding to the then Senate Minority Leader, Eyinnaya Abaribe, who asked him why he decided to disobey court orders by refusing to release persons who had been granted bail by competent courts of jurisdiction.

His disobedience to court orders had provoked the ire of several rights groups both locally and internationally.

A former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and the Convener of #RevolutionNow and Publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore were some of his numerous victims.

Malami was obviously acting on the script of his boss, former President Buhari who claimed at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in 2018 that rule of law can be suspended for the sake of national security.

The embattled former AGF also backed Buhari’s illegal removal of the serving CJN, Justice Onnoghen on January 25, 2019, about 29 days to the 2019 presidential election.

Buhari suspended Onnoghen from office as the CJN and swore-in Justice Tanko Muhammad, who many Nigerians claimed was the most incompetent CJNs since the return to democracy in 2019.

Onnoghen’s removal contravened the Nigerian Constitution, which provides that a Supreme Court judge can only be removed from office by two-thirds of the Senate. 

Buhari relied on illegal orders granted by the Umar Danladi-led Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), an asset compliance agency under the control of the president.

In a kangaroo CCT judgment delivered on April 18, 2019, Umar convicted Onnoghen on the charge of false asset declaration in a bid to permanently get him out of Buhari and Malami’s way as CJN.

But the Court of Appeal, Abuja division, in November 2024, overturned Onnoghen’s conviction by the Danladi’s tribunal, after he had lost his position as CJN prematurely and unlawfully.

It is ironic that the same Malami, who supervised over all these alleged illegalities has been accusing the EFCC of persecution because he was asked to account for the Abacha loot recovered under Buhari’s administration.

EFCC invited Malami in a most honourable and dignified manner, unlike Buhari’s DSS, which invaded judges at midnight, broke their doors and ‘abducted’ them.

Malami’s detention was also based on a valid order of an FCT High Court, unlike the judges who were clamped into detention arbitrarily.

Reacting to Malami’s claim that the EFCC was acting political script in its dealings with him, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, in a post on X last Sunday, described the former AGF as a “grubby, vexatiously political Attorney-General” during his tenure.

He added that if the former AGF now believes the EFCC is politicised, he should remember that “they’re following what he taught them.”

Contrary to the former minister’s allegation of persecution by the EFCC, an FCT High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Babangida Hassan, last Thursday affirmed the legality of the commission’s action and rejected a bail application filed by the former AGF against the commission.

Malami, through his lead counsel, Dr. Suliman Hassan (SAN), had approached the court seeking his release on bail from EFCC custody, insisting that his detention was illegal and without proper justification.

But the EFCC’s counsel, Chief J.S. Okutepa (SAN), informed the court that the commission was holding Malami under a valid remand order issued by Justice S.C. Oriji of an FCT High Court.

In his ruling, Justice Hassan held that Malami was lawfully detained by the Remand Order of the court. 

With all that is playing out, many feel that Malami’s sins as AGF many have caught up with him.