I had to keep tweaking this article until I realized it will take me forever to complete if I was waiting for the end of the many scandals involving Abubakar Malami SAN as it is a “never ending story”.
There is definitely no end in sight as it is a case of “one week, one trouble”.
The rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria also known as the ‘Silk’ and this is one rank every lawyer aspires to attain.
It is a title that conferred on legal practitioners in Nigeria of not less than ten years’ standing and who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession.
It is the equivalent of the rank of Queen’s Counsel in the United Kingdom.
It is a known fact that the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
In a sharp contrast to the expectations of any SAN, Abubakar Malami has performed woefully beyond expectations as a member of the inner bar, and a legal practitioner with such prestigious title and as the number one law officer of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Since he (Malami) was appointed as the minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation in 2015 and reappointed in 2019, the nation has continued to witnessed bizarre legal advice and representations of the Federal Government by the AGF, daring affront of the Constitution, warped interpretations of our laws, politicization of government stance on national issues and apparent partisanship to suit and massage the egos of the Attorney General.
In an attempt to catalogue the many ‘sins’ of Malami, I shall start out with the raging controversy over the invasion of Justice Mary Odili’s residence at the nation’s capital by suspected security agents.
The police, on penultimate Thursday, paraded 14 persons in connection with the invasion of the residence of Honourable Justice Mary Odili on Friday, 29th October 2021.
Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba said the suspects included a fake chief superintendent of police (CSP), a journalist, and an Islamic scholar.
It is noteworthy that two of the suspects had also alleged that one of those involved in the raid claim to work for the office of the attorney-general of the federation.
This damning allegation does not only cast doubt on the sincerity of the government on the government’s pledge to get to the bottom of the case, it also brings to public disrepute of the office and the person of the attorney general of the federation.
In the face of many denials by Umar Gwandu, who is the spokesman to the AGF, Malami describing the said confession as “an orchestrated attempt to stir unnecessary controversies and public apprehension”, it only confirms views of a section of the society and the generality of our noble profession that Abubakar Malami’s integrity stands questioned and open for serious debate going by his partisanship in discharging his duties as Attorney General of the Federation.
Another allegation against him was that he,(Malami) was discovered to have ordered the auction of crude oil and diesel seized by the Nigerian Government from an oil firm known as Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd despite being charged to court for allegedly stealing about 12,000 metric tonnes of crude oil loaded in a vessel, MT Akuada a.k.a. MT Kua, valued at N384m in 2009.
The company was in 2019 granted an approval by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to dispose the crude oil and diesel in four sea vessels through an open bid.
Malami was said to have granted approval to some operators in the oil industry last year to sell five sea vessels holding crude oil and diesel forfeited to the Nigerian Government.
The vessels valued at millions of naira and laden with tonnes of crude oil and diesel were seized by security agencies from illegal oil bunkering operators during different operations.
In separate documents, the AGF directed Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd to dispose of the crude oil and diesel in four sea vessels through an open bid.
In another approval, the AGF mandated the firm to sell five vessels despite the fact that the firm and its Managing Director, Mr Jerome Itepu, stood trial at the Delta State High Court, Asaba, for allegedly stealing about 12,000 metric tonnes of crude oil loaded in a vessel, MT Akuada a.k.a. MT Kua, valued at N384m in 2009.
The auctioneer was to get three per cent of the sale.
The EFCC had in 2015 arraigned four persons on charges of conspiracy, stealing and receiving stolen goods.
The accused included a businessman and a chieftain of the ruling party in Edo Central Senatorial District, Chief Francis Inegbeneki; Chief Executive Officer of Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd., Mr Jerome Itepu; Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd. and Ine Oil Ltd. owned by Inegbeneki.
The suit, numbered A/EFCC/1c/2015, was filed on March 24, 2015 by A.J. Arogha, Esq. and U.R. Ewoh, Esq. on behalf of the EFCC.
Malami once exhibited his ethnic and tribal bigotry when in an attempt to respond to the ban of open grazing by the 17 Southern governors of the federation,, the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said it was illegal and unconstitutional.
He was quoted as saying: “It is about constitutionality within the context of the freedoms expressed in our Constitution.
Can you deny the rights of a Nigerian? For example, it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the Northern governors coming together to say they prohibit spare parts trading in the North…
It is a dangerous provision for any governor in Nigeria to think he can bring any compromise on the freedom and liberty of individuals to move around.”
This is also responsible for his reluctance to advise the Federal Government rightly on the need to proscribe bandits as terrorists in the face of their many acts of criminalities which include killings, daring kidnapping and seizure of lands across the country.
This position of mine is echoed by Chidi Odinkalu, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) who criticised Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, ‘for choosing some separatism as tolerable’.
The Indigenous People of Biafra and its leader Nnamdi Kanu were never accorded such treatment as the group was hurriedly classified as a terrorist organization with military laying siege on the village and residence of Nnamdi Kanu and also Sunday Igboho, the lead agitator for the Yoruba nation in the face of unchecked killings in his region by killer herdsmen whose house was attacked by DSS operatives and whom the Federal government is hellbent on repatriating to Nigeria from Benin Republic to face treason charges and In a bid to seal Igboho’s fate, Malami as AGF unintelligently linked Igboho to the sponsorship of Boko Haram.
Few days ago, the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry submitted its findings on the Lekki Tollgate shooting of October 2020 and also looked into many allegations of police brutality.
It was established that security personnel which comprise of the Nigeria Army and Police killed innocent and peaceful protesters. It brings to consciousness the wickedness, insensitivity and endemic mischief in Malami when two weeks after the shooting at the tollgate, he said it was more of hoodlums wearing military fatigues — and not soldiers — who shot #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos.
He further claimed it was “pre-emptive” to conclude that there had even been shootings, adding that “hoodlums” may have been hired to create a scene.
“You cannot rule out the possibility of perhaps hoodlums that set in to create a scene… could equally partake in the process,”
Lastly, it is noteworthy to state that it was under Abubakar Malami as Attorney General of the Federation that National Security would be fiercely pushed to overrides the Rule of Law.
A position of his which I believed emboldened President Muhammadu Buhari stating the same to attendants of the 2018 annual general conference of the Nigeria Bar Association that “the rule of law must be subject to the supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.
He stated further that “our apex court has had cause to adopt a position on this issue in this regard and it is now a matter of judicial recognition that; where national security and public interest are threatened or there is a likelihood of their being threatened, the individual rights of those allegedly responsible must take second place, in favour of the greater good of society.”
This mindset which is largely responsible for the many brazen disregard to pronouncements of Courts formed the action by the family of Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), to petition the LPDC, the Nigerian Bar Association and other bodies requesting that disciplinary action be taken against Malami for allegedly endorsing Dasuki’s continued detention.
The petition was in reaction to Malami’s media comment suggesting that Dasuki, despite meeting the condition of the bail granted him by the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 2, 2018, he would not be released from the custody of the Department of State Service on the grounds of national security.
I insist, as a lawyer, I am yet to come across an Attorney General of the Federation with so much doubt of his credentials; morally, educationally and professionally .
I am left wondering if while be conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami opted for silt instead of silk.
His conduct in office as AGF is definitely how not to be the nation’s number one legal officer and I pray NBA(Nigeria Bar Association) help put an end to this nightmare.
George Olufemi Ogunjimi Esq.
20 November 2021
