FG using public resources for Malami’s private suits –- Plaintiff

A plaintiff who wants the Attorney-General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, stripped of his Senior
Advocate of Nigeria rank, has alleged that public resources are
being deployed to defend the suit on behalf of the minister.

The plaintiff, Johnmary Jideobi, stated this in an application
he filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja where he is
prosecuting his suit seeking sanction against Malami for Federal
Government’s failure to obey six valid court orders.

The plaintiff, who also sought the referral of the minister to
the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for disciplinary
action, alleged that the minister’s justification of the continued
detention of the immediate-past National Security Adviser, Sambo
Dasuki, constituted a desecration of and an assault on the
constitution which he ought to protect as a Senior Advocate of
Nigeria and the AGF.

In the application, he prayed the court “to strike out the
entire processes filed on behalf of the defendant in this suit for
being incompetent as they were all filed by counsel who are
incompetent in law to represent the defendant”.

He also sought another order “barring any legal practitioner in
the employ of the Federal Government of Nigeria or any of its
agencies from further filing any process or appearing in defence of
the defendant in this suit”.

The plaintiff, who recalled how the Supreme Court on September
2, 2019 deprecated “the appearance of a Principal State Counsel
from the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abdullahi Abubakar, for
President Muhammadu Buhari in personal litigation” as a practice
that must be discouraged.

The plaintiff’s counsel, Martin Okoye, of Johnmary C. Jideobi
& Co, stated, “All the processes filed in this suit on behalf
of the defendant (Malami) have been endorsed by legal practitioners
in the employ of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

“Being a suit brought against the defendant in his private
capacity as a high-ranking member and leader of the Nigerian Bar,
the defendant is without powers to deploy the resources of the
Nigerian state or the legal services of lawyers in the employ of
the Federal Government of Nigeria to ward off this private suit as
he is not entitled to same.”

The plaintiff’s lawyer added, “This court is under duty to carry
out the directive of the highest court in the land, the Supreme
Court, which is the practice of government-paid lawyers undertaking
the defence of the defendant in a suit brought against him in his
personal capacity.

But a counter-affidavit deposed to by an official of the Civil
Litigation Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Thomas
Etah, insisted that the issue being complained of in the
plaintiff’s suit was not Malami’s personal matter but one that
arose from the discharge of his official capacity.

Etah, who said he was briefed by a top lawyer in the Civil
Litigation Department of the ministry, Mrs. Maimuna Shiru, stated
in the counter-affidavit, “That the plaintiff/applicant in the suit
sued the defendant in his official capacity.

“That upon careful perusal of the plaintiff’s/applicant’s
originating summons dated July 27, 2018 and filed on the same date,
the designation of the defendant shows the official status of the
defendant as the Attorney-General of the Federation.”

Meanwhile, Justice Nkeonye Maha withdrew from the case on Friday
following the allegation of likelihood of bias levelled against her
by the plaintiff.

The plaintiff had petitioned the Chief Judge of the court,
Justice John Tsoho, asking for the withdrawal of the case from
Justice Maha and its reassignment to another judge, following a
comment by the judge which the plaintiff perceived as pre-judging
an application filed by Malami to contend that the court lacked
jurisdiction to hear the case.

Justice Maha voluntarily withdrew from the case on Friday and
returned the case to the Chief Judge for re-assignement to another
judge.