The Malfeasances of Malami

By Eddy Odivwri

The Rt Hon John Dalberg-Acton, better known as Lord Acton is absolutely correct when he declared that Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. He argues that the influences and authority wielded by an office holder are essentially the ingredients that can lead to corruption when such powers and influences are not kept in check. All over history, the life and times of great men of authority who rose and fell from the orbit of power are those who were unable to manage the great and fiery allures their offices conferred on them.

In the present administration, one such man who is having difficulty in managing the allures of power and authority is the 54-year old Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The Attorney General of the Federation is one of the most powerful offices in a democracy. As a minister of Justice, he ranks topmost in the hierarchy of ministers. This is even reflected in the sitting arrangement in the Council Chamber. His seat is nearest that of the Vice President, seeming to suggest he is the number one minister in the cabinet. His opinion is sought on many, if not all matters, that concern law and legalese. That means that indeed, the Attorney General of the Federation is one core personnel in a democratic administration.

So, when under late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Nigeria, in July 2007, landed one Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation; and laws, logic and commonsense were stood on their heads, Nigerians thought that the worst had come. Under Aondoakaa, what was all so known to be true were presented as lies and vice versa. There was a running contention between Aondoakaa’s logic and what the rest of the world knew and believed. The unfortunate death of President Yar’Adua helped to save Nigeria from the mess the then Attorney General would have plunged Nigeria.

Then in 2015, Abubakar Malami, a lawyer who had served as legal adviser to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)—the then political party floated by now President Muhammadu Buhari, was appointed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, having failed to win the governorship ticket of the All Progressive Congress (APC) ticket in his native Kebbi State.

Over the years, Malami has proven that Nigerians were hasty in complaining about Aondoakaa. With him, it is indeed getting clearer by the day that the Tiv-born Aodoakaa was indeed a child’s play.

With nearly every outing of Malami upsetting common sense and offending national ethos, the discerning Nigerian public is wondering the kind of Justice minister we have. His arguments are as warped as they are illogical and a standing affront to commonsense and justice, in such a way that it queries how indeed, he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The list of such misfiring is lengthy.

A few examples, in no particular order of occurrence, will suffice.

Malami had posited, five months ago, that the 4.2 million British Pounds Ibori loot repatriated from the United Kingdom, belongs to the Federal Government and not Delta State from where the money was believed to have been stolen. It was one declaration that caused a national uproar. Already, Malami, using the privilege of his office, had allocated the said money to three federal projects, none of which was even in Delta State from which the money left the country in the first place. That was clearly the submission of a minister of injustice. Till today, nobody is aware what has happened to that money.

This same minister of Justice had declared that the monies recovered from the late Abacha cannot be described as Abacha loots, but Abacha assets.

In the same May this year, the Southern Governors, having been harangued by herdsmen who have been on a killing and kidnapping spree in the south, rose from a meeting banning open grazing in their states, as a way of checking the spate of killings and unrest in their various states.

But our Justice Minister Malami, called a press conference to counter the position of the Southern Governors. How did he do it? He claimed that it was a constitutional issue, as the herders have the constitutional right to go where they want and be wherever they want in the country. Worse still, he said, banning open grazing is like banning spare parts sellers in the north. What a mass of illogic! In logic and syllogism, it is called false equivalence. How could a justice minister worth his name and intellect ever compare the legitimate spare parts business with the controversial open grazing that has led to the death of hundreds of persons and which has placed farmers and locals under siege of scare and fear?

Malami does not pretend that he is a nationalist. He bares his fangs mindlessly as an ethnic bigot. That he hates some tribes in Nigeria (especially in the south) is beyond doubt. He struggles at press conferences to pronounce names that are not Hausa or Fulani. And that is our Attorney General! Aondoakaa must be having a good laugh at us now.

Hey, didn’t Mr Malami, just last month, say the government knows the sponsors of Boko Haram but will not name them , just so investigation is not impeded? But few days ago, at the arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, Malami (by way of sub judice ) alleged that both Kanu and Sunday Igboho, the Yoruba secessionist leader, are sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria, linking the duo to several gruesome murders. Is it correct to say, from the body language and utterances of Malami that he is shielding the identity of the true sponsors of Boko Haram because they are his kinsmen and claiming Kanu and Igboho are the sponsors , because they are from the hated tribes?

We are not unaware of the speed by which he tagged the IPOB agitation as a terrorist group long ago. Yet, he has refused to describe the ravaging and ruinous Bandits as terrorists, even when Governors El-Rufai (Kaduna), Aminu Masari (Katsina) etc., have pleaded that the Bandits be declared as terrorists. But Malami wont! Not even for the expediency of using the newly-acquired TUCANO fighter jets to fight the bandits would sway Malami to declare the bandits as terrorists. The US has demanded that the TUCANO jets should be used to fight only terrorists. And unless the bandits are declared as terrorists, the TUCANO jets can’t be used to fight them. So why is Malami reluctant to declare them as terrorists? Is he sympathetic to the bandits? It is acts like these that fuel suspicion that indeed, people in government know the A to Z of the insecurity issues in Nigeria.

By the way, in April, it was announced that over 400 Boko Haram members had been arrested by security agents across the country. Why have they not been put on trial? Why is Malami shielding them, feeding them with tax payers’ money for months un-end? And how true is it that Malami has even ordered the release of over 300 of the arrested Boko Haram members? The maladies of Malami are sundry!

Very recently too, Malami had threatened to impose State of Emergency rule on Anambra State if the killings and violence continued. He does not even have such powers. But even if he does, it will be a gross act of injustice to issue that threat where records have shown that 15 persons were killed, and yet pretend to look the other way in states and zones where hundreds of persons have been killed up north— Malami’s native region. Be sure I am not justifying or explaining away the killing of any form in any part of Nigeria.

A week ago, it was reported that in nine months, 888 persons had been killed in Kaduna State alone. Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Bauchi, Borno and Niger States have continued to record rounds of killings. About a forth night ago, bandits had stormed the Goronyo Onion market in Sokoto State killing 43 persons in one fell swoop, in broad day light. That’s almost three times more than all the people killed in the Anambra unrest. But those spates of killings do not deserve the state of emergency threat of Malami. It has to be in Anambra, one of the states so hated by a Minister of Justice.

People like Abubakar Malami help to dash the hope that we can be a country of one people, much as we like to parrot such slogans. And he wants to be the governor of Kebbi State.

I cannot forget how in December last year, the same Malami foiled the appearance of President Buhari before the House of Representatives, to explain what he was doing on the worsening security issues in Nigeria, after 43 rice farmers were murdered in Borno State. President Buhari had agreed to appear before the lawmakers. But 24 hours to the date, Malami appeared with his wax of pedantic legalese, citing some shadowy constitutional provisions. And the President failed to appear before the lawmakers.

All said, I fear that Malami owes Nigerians lots of explanations in his role in the security issues or the lack of it in the country, especially as there appears to be nobody in the present political horizon to rein him in. Nigeria is bigger than anybody!

Bandits and the Rail Line

By Eddy Odivwri

A little over a week ago, a new twist came to the operation of Bandits in the country, when they chose to attack a train on the Abuja-Kaduna route, wherein not only was a section of the rail track destroyed, parts of the coaches were destroyed and shattered.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said the attack was not by bandits but by vandals. That was hasty, even as they said the incident was being investigated. It was by the Grace of God that the attack didn’t go beyond that. No live was lost. The attackers had targeted the rail track so the rail will derail and possibly lead to deaths. But providence averted that.

The fact that the explosive was also targeted at the tank of the train so it can either cause fire or cause the train to get grounded meant it was done by “experts”. After the attack, the train still rode for 12 kilometers before the leaking fuel forced it to stop. The train service on the route had to be suspended. But not for long. It bounced back two days after.

It is not quite a surprise that the bandits chose to attack the train. The train service had literally “spoilt their market” . The security cover offered by the train service has saved many Nigerians who always travel from Kaduna to Abuja. The roads, the haven for bandits, have practically been abandoned for the rail service. Apart from the safety it offers, it is convenient, neat, cheap and timely. The amount of planning and maintenance of the rail service by the management of the Nigerian Rail way, under the leadership of the Managing Director, Engineer Fidet Okhiria, has been remarkably high and commended.

That round-the-clock efficiency is what caused the suspended train service on the route to resume just 48 hours after the attack. The rail tracks were quickly fixed, while the wagon was also fixed and repositioned for service delivery. In no time, it appeared as if nothing happened.

According to Engnr Okhiria, more security measures are being planned to ensure the safety of the passengers and the trains. Already, there are two armed policemen in every coach, just as there are plans to install CCTV cameras on the routes as well as erecting demarcation fence between the rail tracks and the bushes. This will forestall the incidents of cows straying into rail tracks. Many such cows had been killed in the past.

Earlier, the Management of the NRC had had to deal with vandals who dismember sections of the tracks especially on the Warri-Itakpe corridor.

But on each count, the Okhiria-led management of the NRC has not only promptly risen to the occasion of any drawback, but has also always acted proactively to ensure that the service, which is being embraced by more and more Nigerians, is not disrupted for any reason. Indeed, Nigerians cannot afford to lose hope on the rail lines. The management must do everything to ensure it remains safe and secured.

Many Nigerians have commended the revival of the rail services in Nigeria and noted that it is one sector that has offered good relief to Nigerians by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, even as more states and zones are baying for the extension of the rail services to their areas.

Engnr Okhiria has assured that the rail projects across the country will “be pursued vigorously to the best of our capacity, given the enormous support we get from the federal government”.