Count me out of Abia stalemate – AGF

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Sundaysaid he has no hand in the legal logjam playing out in Abia State.

He said nobody has approached him to ask for his opinion in the case and that media reports linking him as being behind the legal stalemate in Abia state governorship seat, are coming from figment of the imagination of those “pushing the irredeemable lies into public space which only translates to partisanship on the side of its purveyors.”

Malami stated this in a statement he made through his Special Adviser Media and Publicity, Dr. Othman Salihu Isah in Abuja, while reacting to a story on the front page of a national daily.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the insinuations and crass lies being peddled and disseminated by a cross-section of Nigerians and the various media platforms that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is behind the legal logjam over the Abia state governorship seat and wish to clarify that those canvassing this position have no basis to do so.

“Of particular concern are those who have peddled ill-natured rumours with a view to misinform our discerning populace that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and by extension, the Federal Government of Nigeria that gave directives to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Certificate of Return to Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah declaring him Governor-Elect. He has definitely not taken any action either by spoken words or body language as far as this Abia governorship crisis is concerned.

“I wish to therefore, on behalf of my principal declare that these rumours are untrue and a figment of the imagination of those pushing these selfish, shameless and irredeemable lies into public space which only translates to partisanship on the side of its purveyors.

Read also: Judge questions Malami’s motives against Saraki, others in forgery case

“As far as the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office have not been invoked on this issue. So far, nobody has approached him to proffer any legal opinion to it. As a strong believer in the rule of law, it is his belief that the law should naturally take its cause. The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation will not be dragged into this controversy and mind-games being played out by the various legal minds and spin doctors of both camps at this point.

“The parties involved should await the decision of the courts. In fact, we wish to by this statement advise those in the habit of dragging the highly esteemed Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice into knotty issue of this kind even when it is yet to take a position. They should desist from these unwarranted presumptions henceforth.”

Malami has on two occasions refused to appear before a Senate panel to answer questions on his role in the trial of Senate  President Bukola Saraki and his Deputy Ike Ekweremadu.

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