Immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, will on June 14 face the Disciplinary Panel of Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee over a prejudicial statement made against the detained former National Security Adviser, Mr Sambo Dasuki.
The Hearing Notice was signed by Mrs Patricia Orhomuru, Secretary, Disciplinary Committee Legal Practitioners’ Privilege Committee, with reference No: PET/LPPC/23/2018 and dated May 16, 2019.
The notice read in part: “Take notice that the above matter is fixed for hearing by Disciplinary Committee of the Legal Practitioner Privileged Committee of the Office of Registrar Supreme Court of Nigeria Abuja on June 14, 2019, at 11.00 o’clock in the forenoon.
Malami is expected to face the panel for investigation in a statement credited to him in Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service on July 13, 2018, in which he was quoted that Mr Dasuki would not be released despite all subsisting court orders for his release on bails.
In the audio recording of the interview he granted VOA, Malami had accused Dasuki of being responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 Nigerians during Jonathan’s era.
In the interview, Malami had said; “Remember, we are talking about a person who was instrumental to the deaths of over 100,000 people. Are you saying that the rights of one person are more important than those of 100,000 who lost their lives?”
A Notice of hearing in the petition filed by Dasuki’s family against former AGF indicated that Malami would be interrogated by the committee of the Legal Practitioners at the Office of the Chief Registrar, Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja.
Dasuki family had petitioned Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) praying for an investigation and sanction of the minister over his unprofessional conducts and utter disregard to the rule of law likely to cause anarchy in the country through his promotion of disobedience to the lawful order of court by the federal government.
In the petition dated July 23, 2008, and received by NBA the same day, the family wanted Malami to be investigated in the resolve of the federal government not to comply with any order of court admitting the former NSA to bail and has been unjustly detained for almost four years.
Recalling how their son served Nigeria for 21 years as an officer in Nigerian Army; Managing Director Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) and later as National Security Adviser to the immediate past administration, they stated that Dasuki, in his lifetime, has not been convicted of any crime till date.
The petition signed by his wife, Mrs Bintu Dasuki; his son, Mr Abubakar Dasuki and his nephew, Mr Umar Dahiru explained how the ordeal of Dasuki started when Buhari’s government came on board with the invasion of his houses in Abuja and Sokoto during which his vital property, including vehicles, was carted away by operatives of Department of State Security Service (DSS).
The petition also chronicled how Dasuki was arraigned before four different High Courts and was granted bail by all the judges claiming that the charges were bailable offences under the Nigerian law.
They also added that the Court of Justice of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) declared the detention of Dasuki as unlawful, null and void and subsequently ordered his immediate release in addition to imposing a fine of N15m on the federal government as compensation for the breach of Dasuki’s fundamental rights.
The family, however, informed NBA in the petition that rather than complying with the order of the court, the AGF as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation made remarks that the order of the court as relates to Dasuki would not be obeyed by the federal government. The family wondered whether a lawyer let alone a Senior Advocate of Nigeria ought to have engaged in such an unprofessional utterance capable of causing anarchy for the nation.
PT
