BRIEFINGNOTES
Since the advent of democracy in 1999, no Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice has courted controversies like the incumbent, Abubakar Malami, writes Ejiofor Alike
Since President Muhammadu Buhari appointed ministers to help him pilot the affairs of the country, none has courted controversies like the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). In the course of performing his duties, he has always been in the news, for the wrong reasons.
His closest rival in courting controversies is Mr. Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), who was the AGF during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
But Malami seems to have broken the record in terms of notoriety for alleged abuse of power and privileges.
However, these have remained mere allegations in the realm of public speculations as no court of law has ever indicted him.
In the early life of Buhari’s administration, Malami was allegedly involved in the controversial reinstatement of the now jailed former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, into the Federal Civil Service.
Maina was dismissed from service in 2013 for absconding from duty after the office of the Head of Service had made some recommendations.
He was at some point a fugitive, having been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He was however recalled and deployed to the Ministry of Interior under controversial circumstances in 2017 on the alleged advice of Malami.
Following public outcry that greeted his reinstatement, Buhari ordered Maina’s sack again while the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, was asked to probe the embarrassing situation.
On October 24, 2017, the Senate also mandated its committees on Public Service, Internal Affairs, Anti-corruption, Establishment and Judiciary to probe the circumstances leading to Maina’s return to the country and recall into the public service.
Malami denied any involvement in Maina’s recall when he appeared before the House of Representatives in November 2017.
Curiously, the minister sought for an order of interim injunction restraining the National Assembly from probing him over the restatement of Maina, which was rejected by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in January 2018.
Malami was also accused of seeking approval for the payment of $16.9 million fees to two lawyers for the recovery of Abacha loot worth $321 million, which was also rejected by a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun.
Adeosun was said to have written a strongly-worded letter to Buhari, raising objections to the payment.
The House of Representatives had also in April 2018 urged Buhari to suspend the payment of the $16.9 million or any part thereof to two Nigerian lawyers engaged by Malami to recover the Abacha Loot pending investigation on the matter.
Presenting the motion at its plenary session of April 12, 2018, Hon. Mark Terseer Gbillah (PDP: Benue) expressed surprise that the minister engaged the services of two Nigerian lawyers for a fee of $16.9 million without following due process.
The AGF was also said to be behind the travails of the former acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, by recommending his sack to Buhari.
Again, on October 6, 2016, Nigerians were woken up by the sad news that operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) had raided the residences of some judges in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Gombe, Kano, Enugu and Sokoto.
Malami had admitted that he ordered the raids.
He claimed that there were reasonable grounds to justify the arrest of the judges, citing the high number of petitions that had been received by his office, the DSS, the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies.
Also citing Section 15 (5) of the 1999 Constitution, the minister had stated that the state had a responsibility to halt all acts of corruption and could deploy any agency with the capacity to achieve that purpose.
Malami argued that the judges had no immunity against prosecution and that there was no requirement of law, which stipulated that only the EFCC must investigate financial crimes.
Malami had also attracted public flak with his controversial response to the ban on open grazing by the 17 southern governors.
Also very recently on October 29, about 50 security operatives made up of police and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invaded the Abuja residence of the Supreme Court judge, Justice Mary Peter-Odili over an allegation that illegal activities were going on there.
A search warrant was reportedly granted to one Lawrence Ajodo, later identified as a fake Chief Superintendent of Police who had claimed to be attached to the AGF’s office.
Upon his arrest, Ajodo confessed to have been working for the minister as a consultant and recovery agent, even though he said the AGF did not know anything about the invasion of Justice Odili’s residence.
Some hours after the parade, the AGF in a statement released by his spokesman, Dr. Umar Gwandu, denied any alleged connection with the suspect.
Also reacting to the development last Sunday, Malami said he had never met with the suspect before, adding that there is no relationship — distant or close — between him and the suspect.
The minister said Ajodo should provide “formal evidence” of his engagement by the office of the attorney-general, adding that is the only source to prove his alleged relationship with the suspect.
In spite of frantic denial, many Nigerians have refused to accept Malami’s narrative, given his antecedents.
A few days earlier, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had argued that Malami risks losing the SAN title over the same Justice Odili’s issue.
President of the NBA, Olumide Akpata, recalled how operatives of the DSS had in 2016 raided the homes of seven judges as well as how a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, was “illegally removed from office,” ahead of the 2019 general election.
Akpata called on President Muhammadu Buhari to set up an independent panel to investigate the matter.
While this was ongoing, the House of Representatives last week queried why Malami allegedly ordered Keystone Bank to pay the sum of $40 million belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Naira equivalent, using N305 as the exchange rate. The Executive Director, North and Public Sector Directorate of the bank, Mr. Lawal Ahmed, had revealed this when he appeared before the ad hoc committee on the assessment and status of all recovered loots, movable and immovable assets from 2002 to 2020 by agencies of the federal government of Nigeria for effective and efficient management.
Before then, Malami was credited with a statement that there was no going back on the federal government’s decision to commence deducting $418million from the 36 states’ accounts to settle their indebtedness to consultants and private firms concerning the Paris and London clubs refund.
This is despite the governors’ opposition to it and the recent order issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja stopping the deduction of the money from the accounts of the 36 states to settle the judgment debts.
The debts had accrued from court judgments awarding some consultants and contractors to the states and local governments, various sums of money which currently stand at $418 million. Expectedly, his statement attracted a lot of reactions with the governors, some individuals and groups, accusing the Minister of working for consultants instead of defending the interest of the country.
