Persons described as friends and loyalists of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, have donated exotic vehicles of different brands to support his ambition of becoming the Kebbi state governor in 2023.
Malamis media aide, Umar Gwandu, said the minister’s friends gifted the vehicles to “long-term workers in the Khadimiyya Foundation” where Malami is one of the stakeholders, and also supported his governorship ambition with N135m.
The viral pictures of the vehicles, including Lexus SUV, Mercedes Benz GLK, Toyota SUV and other brands were shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms on Tuesday.
Malami, a two-term member of the cabinet of the President, Muhammadu Buhari, has reportedly declared his intention to contest for the Kebbi state governor in the 2023 elections under the All Progressives Congress.
But senior lawyers, including Femi Falana, Ifedayo Adedipe, and an activist lawyer, Tosin Ojaomo condemned the donations which they described as illegal and violated the Electoral Act, 2022 and the Code of Conduct for public officers.
Faulting the donations, the lawyers said the AGF had breached Paragraph 6 of Part 1 of the 5th Schedule to the Constitution and the Code of Conduct for public officials.
Specifically, Falana stated, “He has breached the provisions of Paragraph 6 (1) of the Code of Conduct for public officers which provide that: ‘A public officer shall not ask for or accept property or benefits of any kind for himself or any other person on account of anything done or omitted to be done by him in the discharge of his duties.’”
Speaking in the same vein, Adedipe faulted Malami for receiving the donations, describing it as wrong and illegal.
He stated, “The challenge we have in this country is that we have refused to obey our laws. Apart from leadership, the major secondary reason we are backward is the lack of political will to enforce our laws as done in other climes.
“Imagine the Attorney-General of the United States while still in office declaring that he would be contesting for the governorship of say, Arizona or any other state and then saying unabashedly that his friends; faceless, nameless friends have donated vehicles. Look, he would face prosecution.”
“We are used to very poor standards, very low standards that nothing shocks us. For a government that came into office on the mantra of change, I would have thought we would change our ways of doing things for the better.
“Can we say this particular development (vehicle donation) is yet another attestation to the fact that when the APC people gathered together, it was just to collect power, not to change our life for the better? It is sad.
“For me, it is wrong for a public officer to attract the donations of that nature contrary to the extant provisions of the constitution. It is left for his appointer, the President, to either accommodate him and stop talking to us about corruption or ask him to resign.”
Citing section 121 of the Electoral Act 2022, Ojaomo described the receipt of the donations by the AGF as bribery and conspiracy.
Ojaomo noted, “Going by the turn of events, it is honourable for the President to order an immediate investigation into this allegation going by the sensitivity of the office being held by Malami.
“We saw what happened to Attorney General Madu of Canada who was investigated for allegedly interfering with the administration of justice. If the President is sincere about giving Nigerians free and fair elections, adherence to the Electoral Act must be the first litmus test to assure Nigerians that a level playing ground would be given to all candidates.”