I have met one on one with the
Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar
Malami, three times in the last 15 months. I never left any of the meetings
convinced that this gentleman has the depth of knowledge, the intellectual
inquisitiveness or the temperament to do the job which he has been appointed to
do.
On first meeting, Mr. Malami can
appear quite charming. Ultimately, my assessment of him is that he takes
decisions before he weighs the consequences. I also believe that he has this
impression that his position as AGF makes him a kind of demi-god who does not
have to listen to the counsel of other people, not even when the people have a
lot more knowledge and experience in a subject than him.
Mr. Malami constantly reminds you
that he is the Chief Law Officer of the nation as if the Chief Law Officer of
the nation is the law. Our AGF also does not fail to remind you consistently
that he acts ‘in the national interest’ but he is the only determinant of what
the ‘national interest’ is.
After my interaction with Mr. Malami
and his team, I have never stopped worrying about the quality of the people we
have at the Federal Ministry of Justice. I have asked myself how this set of
people can be allowed to wield the enormous powers they wield. I am in no way
surprised at the way they have bungled practically every serious case they have
had to handle. I am 100% convinced that they do not have the competence to put
together a good case or provide the leadership in that area that the nation
desperately needs.
I almost thought I have seen enough
of the craziness at the Federal Ministry of Justice until I read during the week
that Mr. Malami went to a Federal High Court in Abuja with an ex-parte
application asking the Court to stop the Senate of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from enquiring into the Maina affair, one of the biggest scandals in
Nigerian history. What effrontery!
Tell me, has the AGF forgotten that
it was the same Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that he had to stand
before to get confirmation to become Minister and Attorney-General? Suddenly,
the Senate has no over-sight powers over the AGF who has become bigger than the
Nigerian Senate. Balderdash!
Maybe, in a democracy, it is healthy
to argue every issue no matter how strange it may appear but Mr. Malami did not
want an argument. He wanted Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court to
issue a restraining order on the Senate without even hearing the Senate. He
wanted Justice Nyako to shield him from explaining to his country what his role
is in the multi-billion Naira Maina mess polluting the entire country.
It is the behavior of people such as
Malami that gives the likes of Donald Trump the impudence to refer to us a
shit-hole nation. Thank you Justice Nyako for saying no to Malami’s crazy
application and leaving him in the hole which he dug himself.
It leaves me with the question: In a
nation with so many brilliant minds, how did Malami climb to such an exalted
position? How did this man come to wear the shoes once won by such a
thoroughbred professional like Prince Bola Ajibola whose respect I will
continue to have till my dying days? Someone who knows Malami during the week
said to me that Abubakar Malami is ‘a quota SAN’ You may think that this came
from one of those southern Christians who never seem to see anything good in a
northern Moslem. No! The person who described Malami in those words is a very
well-educated Moslem northerner who has watched Malami practice law.
I am not in the camp of those
derogatively described on social media as ‘wailers’. Indeed, there are people
who will swear that I have chopped money from Buhari whom I have never met.
This is because of my natural inclination not to see our national challenges
from the prism of tribe or religion.
I have heard that Abubakar Malami did
quite a bit of pro-bono work for Buhari in his CPC days and his appointment as
AGF is compensation for his loyalty. If President Buhari cannot yet see that
his loyalty to one man called Abubakar Malami cannot be more important than his
debt to the millions of Nigerian citizens who voted him into office, then the
President is not the kind of decision maker I always thought he was. What
Buhari is faced with might be a Malami debacle. The truth is that the more
Abubakar Malami wriggles, the deeper he will sink. The time for Malami to go is
now.
Some might say that I want Malami’s
job. I am not a lawyer and can never be AGF. I do not hate Abubakar Malami. I
do not have the capacity to hate anyone. I just love my country and I am tired
of the glaring incompetence everywhere. The incompetence has consequences. It
is taking a tole on our people and their pride in their country. That is why
young Nigerians are risking their lives and dignity and being sold as slaves in
places like Libya and selling their body on the streets of Italy. That is why a
Donald Trump can call us a shit-hole nation.
With all humility, I know the music
industry more than Abubakar Malami. I know the copyright system more than Mr.
Malami. His incompetence and meddling are threatening to destroy the industry I
have contributed my life to build for the good of our nation. His meddling will
send more young Nigerians on their way to Libya and the streets of Italy.
This week and thereafter, I will
protest and protest the continued meddling of Abubakar Malami in the Nigerian
music industry, an industry he knows nothing about. I will forcefully protest
the violent attempt to stop Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court,
Lagos from delivering judgment in the suit brought by Copyright Society of
Nigeria (COSON) of which I am chairman against the AGF and the MCSN syndicate
with seven different criminal cases at the Federal High Court a syndicate which
the AGF has gone beyond his powers to authorize to collect royalties on behalf
of innocent Nigerian musicians despite the loud protestation of the competent
authority.
Anyone who has the ears of President
Muhammadu Buhari should tell him that there will be no retreat and no surrender
on this matter because no great nation in the history of mankind has been built
by cowards.
See you next week.
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