Abacha Loot: CSOs ask Buhari to fire Malami over $15m ‘dubious’ lawyers fee

Some civil society organisations have called on President
Muhammadu Buhari to find a replacement for Abubakar Malami, the
attorney-general of the federation (AGF), over the payment of $15
million to lawyers he engaged for the repatriation of $321 million
Abacha Loot.

Enrich Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer hired by the federal government
since 1999 for the recovery of the loot, had already completed the
job, and been paid his fee.

In a series of interviews with TheCable, Monfrini insisted that
there was no need for the AGF to engage new lawyers.

Rather than write directly to the Swiss authorities to seek the
transfer of the funds to Nigeria, Malami, however, engaged Oladipo
Okpeseyi and Tope Adebayo for the purpose, and despite the outcry,
the lawyers were eventually paid secretly.

At a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the coalition said
the president who promised to fight corruption is losing the
momentum.

“We recall the shady deal involving the minister which led to
the approval for payment of a highly controversial and contentious
payment of $17 million to two lawyers for an already concluded deal
on the repatriation of the Abacha
Loot from the Swiss Bank,” Ezenwa Nwagwu, convener of Say No
Campaign, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said.

“One of the greatest disappointments in the fight against
corruption under this administration has come from the Office of
the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice,
whose actions and inactions have continued to bring shame to the
proclaimed anti-corruption campaign of the administration and huge
losses to Nigeria.

“Statutory provisions make the office of Attorney General of the
Federation pivotal to the fight against corruption, charging its
occupant with the sole responsibility to deliver justice, in PUBLIC
INTEREST, in its actions, inactions and decisions. This is as
contained in Sections 174(1) (2) and (3) of the 1999 constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.

“Sadly, Nigerians recall many shady and odious roles the current
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Abubakar Malami has played to deliberately frustrate the fight
against corruption the last three years.”

The group listed the AGF’s alleged role in the “fraudulent”
reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension
Task Force, into the civil service.

Malami was also said to have been fingered in an attempt to
frustrate the investigation and prosecution of the director-general
of the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for his “involvement
in the diversion” of about N2.5 billion.

He was also accused of superintending over a “systematic
strategy of frustrating the freedom of information (FoI) law, as
government agencies have found cover and a new boldness to ignore
and treat, with impunity, the many FOI requests in order to
frustrate any accountability effort by concerned public”.

The AGF is yet to respond to a series of FOI requests sent by
Cable Foundation, seeking information on the Abacha Loot, after
more than a year.

In its recommendations, the coalition said as Buhari prepares
for swearing-in and commencement of his second term on May 29, he
should; “immediately relieve and replace the current Attorney
General of the Federation, Mr Malami, in order to salvage the fight
against corruption and recover public confidence and support for
the fight against corruption.”

The civil society organisations also want the president to
reconfigure his fight against corruption by ensuring people with
questionable characters are not appointed to sensitive positions
capable of curtailing the independence of key anti-corruption
agencies and the fight against corruption.

The coalition include: SAY NO CAMPAIGN, YES Project, YIAGA
AFRICA, African Centre for Media and Information
Literacy(AFRICMIL), The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre
(CISLAC), Cable Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, and Lawyers’
Network Against Corruption (LAWNAC).

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