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[FACT CHECK] Did a Canadian Minister of Justice actually describe Nigeria’s AGF, Malami, as a disgrace to the Rule of Law?

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Abubakar Malami

Claim: News reports quoted a Nigerian-Canadian ‘Minister of Justice’, Kelechi Madu as saying that Nigeria’s Attorney-General, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami is a disgrace to the rule of law, and that the AGF is not worthy to be an officer of the law.

He was reported to have been reacting to the re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, the fugitive leader of a separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who was picked up in a foreign country, repatriated to Nigeria and arraigned before a judge.

Conclusion: True, Kelechi Madu, the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta province, Canada, actually said Abubakar Malami was a disgrace to the rule of law. He also said the Nigeria government violated international law as claimed by the reports.

Source: Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday were awash with a story of the international human rights activist/politician criticising the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu while making a request on the international community to take action. The news report was captured with the headline; Malami is a disgrace to the Rule of Law —Canada Minister of Justice.

Verification: After several searches on the report, it was traced to the original source: the LinkedIn page of Kelechi Madu, a Nigerian-Canadian who is currently the Minister of Justice and solicitor-general of the government of Alberta as well as the secretary of the Canadian province.

The post was published July 4, 2021.

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The news report was concurrent to the LinkedIn post and made the pronouncements that Malami is a disgrace to the rule of law.

In his words, “The Attorney-General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, is a disgrace to the rule of law and not worthy to be an officer of the court.

“He has shown himself to be a bigot who does not understand what it means to live in a pluralistic society governed by the dictates of the rule of law”, he wrote in the penultimate paragraph of the post.

He also accused Nigerian and Kenyan governments of violating Kanu’s human rights in the role played in getting the IPOB leader arrested. Both the Kenyan government and a journalist fingered to have supplied information leading to the arrest of Kanu have denied any involvement in the matter.

The Nigeria government on its part, has been evading questions on how they truly got Kanu arrested.

FACT CHECK: Did a Canadian minister of Justice actually describe Nigeria’s AGF, Malami, as a disgrace to the Rule of Law?

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