Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s federal attorney general has declared that the forgery case against the leadership of the Nigerian Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the upper chamber’s president and the deputy senate president, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu was filed in the “interest of the public” and the criminal charges will not be withdrawn.
Malami made this comment on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, when he finally before the senate committee on judiciary, human rights, and legal matters, three weeks after he was summoned.
The forgery charges against Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu has been condemned by the senate as an attempt by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency to force a change of leadership in the independent legislative arm the federal government of Nigeria.
Abubakar Malami, a senior advocate of Nigeria, was the lawyer engaged, while still in private practice, by the anti-Saraki senate bloc to petition the inspector general of police on the allegations of forgery against Saraki and Ekweremadu.
A federal high court judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole has lampooned Malami over the case, describing it as an abuse of court and legal process.
Following his appointment as the attorney general of the federation, AGF, by Muhammadu Buhari, Malami pushed the case forward to his desk where he then used the institutions of the state to further the interest of his client. His participation in the case against Saraki and Ekweremadu is a clear conflict of interest.
Malami had rebuffed invitations by the senate over the matter and the legislators had considered issuing a warrant for his arrest.
According to reports, the AGF told the senate committee that the amendment of the 2015 Standing Order “did not follow the traditional way of amendment” and so he had to file the suit in furtherance of his responsibility to “defend the constitution” and “sustain the democratic process.”
“The action was not taken to truncate any democratic process but to protect it. There are now two pending cases in court. One is a civil case instituted by some senators. The other is a criminal case instituted by the office of the AGF. These two matters are sub- judice. When a matter is before a court of law, nobody is entitled to look into it,” Malami told the committee.
The minister of justice reiterated that the filing of the case against Saraki and Ekweremadu was not his doing, as investigations were already concluded before he was appointed into the position of the federal attorney general.
“The issue that constitutes the basis of this invitation is a criminal case instituted against certain members of the senate. It is an act that predates my appointment. There are series of suits. The date of interest is July 23, 2015. I was appointed on November 12, 2015.
“That is four months after the investigation was concluded by the NPF. I have an obligation in the sustenance of democracy to institute a legal action from an investigation that had been concluded. It was based on this that I took the action,” he said.
“The National Assembly has the powers to regulate its own procedure. But the basis for filing my case was that the position taken was not that of the senate.
“The Senate Standing Rules allegedly amended in 2015 did not follow the traditional way of amendment. It can therefore not be the position of the senate. That is where my quarrel comes in.
“If there are certain persons that did not allow the process of amending the Senate Standing Rules go through the constitutional process, we have a responsibility to act by way of initiating a criminal proceeding against those involved.
“The public interest and the need to ensure that no abuse is allowed, I have to take the step to prevent that,” Malami concluded.
