Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, has declared he would be glad to testify before the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential panel, if he is summoned.
The Presidential Panel has since July been probing allegations of wrong doing leveled against the former Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, who has since been suspended and replaced.
Malami made the declaration in an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday.
There has been no love lost between Malami and Magu, as the minister has in fact brought several allegations against the embattled former EFCC acting chairman. The minister’s allegations provided much of the ground on which Magu is being investigated by the government.
Malami’s declaration was in response to a request by Magu through a letter, asking Justice Salami to summon him to the panel.
Malami said, in response to a question: “So, if indeed the Ayo Salami panel invites Abubakar Malami as a person or the AGF in the person of Abubakar Malami for any testimony, for any clarification, for examination or cross-examination for that matter, Abubakar Malami will wholeheartedly, gladly within the spirit and context of the rule of law be there to testify, be there to be cross-examined, be there to be examined within the context of the rule of law.
According to him, he had nothing to hide, and therefore would not delay in cooperating with the panel in its investigation of the former EFCC boss.
“Our position as a government is to be submissive to the rule of law and the rule of law component of it requires that when we are called upon to clarify issues, when we are called upon to be examined, when we are called upon to be cross-examined, Abubakar Malami will be there and will gladly cooperate with the inquiry institution and that indeed was an attribute of the government that translated to the victory we are seeing today arising from P&ID.
Going further, he declared that: “Abubakar Malami has along the line, within the chain of the arbitral process, submitted to uncountable invitations, responded to uncountable requests for clarification of issues and indeed executed uncountable witness statements for the purpose of putting the record straight and the case of Salami will certainly not be an exception.”
On Monday, Magu’s counsel, Wahab Shittu wrote a letter to panel, requesting it to summon Malami to appear before it.
Citing Section 36(a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Nigerian Constitution, Shittu had declared that “Based on the foregoing, we humbly request that the Honourable Attorney General, who is the main accuser in these proceedings, be graciously invited to give evidence in connection with the subject matter of this inquiry with specific reference to our client in the interest of fair hearing.
“We believe this request ought to be resolved before our client is called upon to enter his defence in these proceedings,” he said.
