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The best value that the sincere friends and collaborators of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami, can inject into his career now would be to ensure that he is taught to always speak sparingly and to recognize the need to regularly deploy more time. and efforts to benefit from informed legal input before responding to very serious issues. The office he occupies is so important and strategic that Nigerians can confidently rely on legal controversies. It is always very disheartening whenever his interventions on very important national affairs are easily criticized by Nigerians, including even street traders and roadside mechanics.
When the 17 governors of the South gathered in Asaba on May 11, 2021 and announced the ban on open pastures behind which Fulani shepherds armed with weapons had been hiding for several years to commit various atrocities such as brutal rapes of women and girls, indiscriminate destruction of crops. , mutilating or killing farmers and the invasion and razing of communities, AGF Malami rushed to describe the governors’ resolution as “unconstitutional” and “dangerous”.
On TV channels, Malami said: “This is about constitutionality in the context of the freedoms expressed in our constitution … For example, it is like saying, maybe, maybe, that the governors of the north come together to say that they prohibit trade in spare parts in the north. “
The masterful car with which this obviously very pedestrian and absurd intervention was delivered must have deepened the astonishment of many Nigerians. How can a “learned man” (let alone the AGF) compare violent shepherds who seem to derive hideous animation from the wanton destruction of farmland and visits by their owners with various destruction and violations to coin traders? auto parts that peacefully lease stores to their owners, pay taxes to the government, and conduct their business in a way that does no harm to anyone?
It was such a horrific faux pas from which Nigerians of various social and educational rankings quickly formulated a cocktail of jokes and hashtags to entertain themselves and relieve themselves of the tension and stress generously given to them by severe hardship and the paralyzing insecurity that suffocates the country.
The Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, himself Nigeria’s Senior Counsel (SAN), could not hide his embarrassment:
“It is very unfortunate that AGF is not able to distill the problems as one would expect from a senior lawyer. Nothing more disconcerting. This explosion should not normally elicit a response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business which is in no way harmful and a certain predilection for anarchy, ”Akeredolu lamented in a statement he said. personally signed.
While Malami had learned any useful lessons from Akeredolu’s rebuke, he turned out to be quite incapable of ensuring their proper use. His mismanagement of the “interception” and “new arrest” of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the indigenous peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has further aggravated the crisis and the degradation of the image of the country. During the press conference it gave about 48 hours after Kanu’s repatriation to the country, AGF did not see the need to explain to Nigerians the legal and diplomatic processes followed by the government to bring back the leader of the IPOB. Nigerians were then left to revel in the speculations and rumors that the pathetic lack of proper explanations spawned.
Things got worse with the Kenyan government’s quick refusal of any form of involvement in Kanu’s “new arrest”.
At a press conference in Abuja, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Wilfred Machage, said: “I want to respond to this allegation by denying that Kenya was involved in the alleged arrest in Kenya and the extradition to Nigeria of Mr. Kanu. For us, therefore, these allegations are fictitious, imaginary and deliberately concocted to fuel antagonistic feelings among a certain section of the Nigerian people. We are also disturbed, dismayed and astonished by the unfortunate statement on the alleged arrest in Kenya which was made in the dailies. The Government of Kenya is particularly appalled by the spurious, derogatory and defamatory mention of the name of our dear President on this issue.
Unfortunately, AGF Malami does not seem to have appreciated the damage that Kenya’s rebuttal has done to the image of its office and that of Nigeria. Following this, Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, revealed that Kanu had confirmed to his legal team that he “had been tortured, mistreated and beaten mercilessly” in Kenya.
Ejiofor said on Get up on TV: “After spending eight days in their illegal custody “, the Kenyans” are now waving to the Nigerian government. Kanu was lifeless and unconscious when they took him to Nigeria.
Today, despite this astonishing claim from Camp Kanu and denial of any involvement by the Kenyan government, it is demoralizing that so far only Malami and, perhaps, the few people who have collaborated in this heinous enterprise and internationally embarrassing can give a coherent account of the exact legal and diplomatic process (if any) followed by Nigeria to bring Kanu back, since, the AGF did not tell us that the leader of the IPOB was arrested in Nigeria .
If Kanu was indeed arrested in Kenya and the Kenyan government furiously denies any form of collaboration with Nigeria in the so-called “extradition”, does this mean that Nigerian security officials have infiltrated Kenya? and collaborated with some criminal elements in the country to kidnap Kanu and bring him back to Nigeria? What exactly happened? Why is the AGF office taking too long to recognize the importance of being very transparent about this?
This would remind Nigerians of the case of the late Umar Dikko during the military dictatorship of the same General Muhammadu Buhari in 1984 who was kidnapped in the United Kingdom and crated as “diplomatic baggage”. The attempt to bring Dikko to Nigeria in a crate, however, was foiled by British security agencies. Although Nigeria and their alleged Israeli collaborators never admitted their involvement, the incident severely affected diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Britain at the time and the people who transported Dikko to the airport have been imprisoned in the UK.
There is no doubt that this case now exceeds Nnamdi Kanu. Whatever the nature of the offense committed by a Nigerian and the need to bring him to justice, should that justify the deployment of crude and illegal methods and the violation of international laws to do so? Such actions can only diminish and further de-commercialize the country before the civilized world and lead to unsavory consequences.
Now, is this the kind of accomplishment that an attorney general and senior lawyer should be seen shamelessly celebrating? As Kanu’s lawyers keep their promise to take Nigeria and Kenya to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for this case, what image will Nigeria take to the rest of the world? Already the British press is enjoying the story and painting very ugly images of Nigeria because of this incident.
So disgusted with the whole process, and in the absence of any coherent explanation from AGF, a Nigerian serving as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, Canada, Mr. Kelechi Madu, had to state that if it was true that Kanu was “kidnapped in Kenya with the active collaboration of the Kenyan government led by President Uhuru Kenyatta”, then “Nigeria and Kenya violated international law and the state of right which is supreme in their respective countries ”. He then highlighted his doubts about Malami’s qualification for AGF.
Responding to Mr. Madu’s assertions, Malami said: “It is important to educate people like Kelechi Madu that Nigeria (his country of birth) and Canada (where he claims to practice law) are signatories to the Accord. multinational treaty where, among other things, fugitives fleeing justice in countries with a similar agreement could be brought to justice. “
Now I don’t want to bother with the insults that crept into the exchange, but AGF must be prepared to admit that it hasn’t helped Nigeria’s image by failing to explain a point Very important, whether the “Multinational Treaty Agreement” he quoted allows a country to sneak into any other country and kidnap a so-called “fugitive fleeing justice”?
Are there not legal and diplomatic processes generally followed for the extradition of accused persons and why should the Nigerian people not be fully informed about this? Isn’t Malami embarrassed that Kenya quickly distanced itself from the obvious legal and diplomatic mess she and Nigeria had likely created? Or was Kanu arrested in an unnamed country?
One would have expected that before raining abuse down on Madu, Malami would first have clearly explained the processes Nigeria had gone through to proceed with the extradition so Madu could see how wrong he was. attack Malami? How does telling us that Madu is just an attorney general for a province in Canada help our quest for correct and detailed information? And how exactly does the excerpt exuberantly quoted by the AGF from Canadian laws explain this mess of “interception” and “extradition” that his office seems to have plunged Nigeria into?
Well, Malami should hasten to take advantage of the information that Alberta, a province of about 680,000 square kilometers of land, has a GDP of about $ 387 billion. Reports say that “$ 78,155 per capita in Alberta is the highest of any state or province in North America” insecurity better than the Canadian province it tries to despise? Should a person who values their self-esteem even be proud to present themselves as part of the current regime in Nigeria under which life has been unspeakably devalued?
*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, Nigerian journalist and writer, is the author of the book, Nigeria: why the looting may not stop (Available on Amazon). ([email protected])
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