Malami’s Position On Bail Is Criminal And Punishable Under Our Laws By Umar Sa’ad Hassan

Abubakar Malami’s screening on the floor of the senate was the
most anticipated of President Buhari’s ministerial nominees.

There were a wide assortment of questions spawning from his
controversial four year tenure as Attorney General of the
Federation for the senators to pick from.That there were quite a
number from the opposition that had over time proven to be vibrant
and fearless on the floor of the senate was supposed to guarantee
Malami had no escape route.

The house of reps had indicted him over the reinstatement of
ex-pensions boss,Abdulrasheed Maina who was wanted by the EFCC and
is currently claiming in hiding that President Buhari ordered
Malami to reinstate him. The senators would at least while making
reference to the overwhelming evidence available,ask Malami for his
own version of events. There is also the issue of the clean bill of
health he passed on former secretary to the government of the
federation,Babachir Lawal regarding the IDP grass cutting scandal
before he was indicted by VP Osinbajo’s committee and the EFCC.

There was a lot to pick from but suprisingly,the senators didn’t
ask Malami what they were expected to.The former AGF bungling a
matter as simple as one on the disobedience of court orders by
government tells you he would have made a bigger mess of the
weightier questions.First,Malami isn’t in charge of any prison or
detention centre in the country.

One would ordinarily expect him to stroll past that saying the
authorities flaunting the orders of the court are not doing so at
his behest while bemoaning the fact that he was being made a
scapegoat.But well,the man chose to tell the truth and in a fashion
reminiscent of his ‘technician technicality’ CJN brother,Ibrahim
Tanko just a week ago,sensationally gave a well known legal
position an ignorant colouring.Only in this instance,unlawful as
well.

Malami sought to justify the breach of the constitutional rights
of nigerians being held in captivity despite having been granted
bail by saying their release was not in the best interest of 180
million nigerians and that it was his duty as AGF to uphold public
interest.This is the number one law officer of the land publicly
and unashamedly conferring on himself the power to veto the
decisions of our courts.

It is shocking how a man of Malami’s standing and experience in
the legal profession would be totally oblivious of the fact that
those comments are of a criminal nature.Our laws are clear on what
constitute contempt and a flagrant disobedience of a court’s ruling
or decision forms a key element of that offence.Contempt ex facie
curiae (outside the court room) is followed by an arrest and a
trial in court.

Except of course he wants to tell us that he as AGF can also
decide what laws apply to him. Quite astonishing is how he makes
reference to the Supreme Court’s decision in Asari Dokubo V Federal
Republic of Nigeria in justifying his position as acting in public
interest.

It is the prerogative of the courts to grant bail and in that
case it refuses Mr Dokubo in the best interest of the public.No
individual whomsoever is empowered to arbitarily tow its steps
other than a court of law and refusing to comply with the decision
of any court of competent jurisdiction amounts to contempt.We
aren’t speculating,Malami by his response at the senate,copped to
doing just that.

In defending his action,there was nothing to suggest he was
aware of the grave implications of his utterances and what that
highlights more than anything else is the calibre of persons being
appointed by the Buhari administration into sensitive
positions.

The powers of the Attorney General of the Federation are clearly
spelt out in Section 174 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).No
provision therein empowers him to choose which court decisions to
comply with. Sub section 3 states that-” In exercising his powers
under this section, the Attorney-General of the Federation shall
have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice and the
need to prevent abuse of legal process” but the power Malami weilds
isn’t captured by the preceding provisions of that section.The
issue of public interest and interest of justice brings me to
another question i expected the former Attorney General to be
quizzed on.

The popular notion is that Sen.Danjuma Goje,a former Governor of
Gombe state accused of embezzling billions of naira in office by
the EFCC had charges against him withdrawn just weeks ago because
he struck a deal with President Buhari in a meeting at the villa to
step down for the President’s preferred candidate for Senate
President,Sen.Ahmed Lawan.Goje had 2 charges pending in court and
most people above any other thing,expected Malami to give the
official position of his office on that while justifying how the
decision was taken in the ‘best interest of justice or the
public’.

Malami should be before a court next week and not being named
Minister.

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer based in Kano,
[email protected]_100 [email protected]^[1][2]

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