The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: Malami

  • Kanu’s lawyer petitions US legislature to sanction Buhari, Malami

    Kanu’s lawyer petitions US legislature to sanction Buhari, Malami

    Mr Bruce Fein, United States-born Special Counsel to the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has petitioned the US Senate and House of Representatives Committee Chairmen, seeking sanctions against President Muhammadu Buhari; and the Attorney General of Nigeria, Abubakar Malami, for the continued detention of Kanu against court judgement.

    The letter was csptionef: “RE: Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act: Recommending President Joe Biden to impose sanctions against Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights against Biafran leader Nnamdi Kanu, including kidnapping, torture, and prolonged arbitrary detention to retaliate for exercising internationally recognized rights to freedom of expression and association.”

    Kanu’s lawyer specifically urged the affected Committee Chairmen of both chambers, to prevail on President Joe Biden, to impose severe sanctions on Buhari and Malami for flouting both the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion, and the Nigerian court judgement ordering immediate release of Kanu.

    Fein likened Buhari and Malami to Russian President Vladimir Putin; Chinese President Xi Jinping; and Saudi Arabian Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Salman, urging the Congress leaders and ranking members not to allow them get away with their rascality and lawlessness.

    Some of the addressees of the letter dated October 20, 2022 include: Robert Menendez, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; Jim Risch, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; and Richard Durbin, Senate Committee Chairman on the Judiciary.

    Others are Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on the Judiciary; Pat Leahy, Senate Committee Chairman on Appropriations, Richard Shelby Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Appropriations; and Honourable Sherrod Brown, House Committee Chairman on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

    The letter was also addressed to Pat Toomey Ranking Member, Senate Committee Chairman on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Gregory Meeks, House Committee Chairman on Foreign Relations, among others.

    Below is a full text of the letter made available to the reporter by Kanu’s Special Counsel in Nigeria, Aloy Ejimakor.

    “I represent Biafran leader Nnamdi Kanu.

    “Mr. Kanu has been illegally detained in solitary confinement in cramped quarters for sixteen (16) months without adequate access to needed medical care or to counsel by Nigeria’s State Security Services controlled by President Muhammadu Buhari and Attorney General Abubakar Malami.

    “Mr. Kanu’s detention followed his kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021 to retaliate for advocating a Biafran independence referendum modeled on the United States-brokered 2011 referendum for South Sudan. Mr. Kanu opposes the use of force with the sole exception of self-defense.

    “On July 20, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an Opinion finding Nnamdi Kanu’s detention in violation of sixteen (16) international human rights guarantees. The Opinion ordered his “immediate and unconditional release,” Opinion, paragraph 107. (See Attachment A). President Buhari and Attorney General Malami have ignored the directive for nearly three (3) months with no indication that compliance will ever be forthcoming.

    “In January 2022, following the extraordinary rendition of Mr. Kanu, a Nigerian High Court judgment impliedly exonerated him from the Nigerian government’s Orwellian claim that he had jumped bail in evading its notorious attempted assassination.

    “On October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, Abuja Judicial Division, Holden at Abuja, decreed that Nigeria’s detention of Mr. Kanu was illegal because of his extraordinary rendition from Kenya in violation of international and state laws. (See Attachment B). The Court ordered dismissal of all charges against him. Again, President Buhari and Attorney General Malami have flouted the Court’s orders and kept Nnamdi Kanu illegally detained.

    “The Opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Court of Appeals of Nigeria speak for themselves. They are crystal clear.

    “Accordingly, I would respectfully urge you individually and collectively to recommend to President Joe Biden that he impose sanctions against President Buhari and Attorney General Malami for gross violations of Mr. Kanu’s internationally recognized human rights under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, 22 U.S.C. 2656 note, The sanctions should include ineligibility for a visa to enter the United States and blocking of all transactions in properties of Mr. Buhari and Mr. Malami in the United States.

    “What Nigeria has done to Mr. Kanu is indistinguishable from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Saudi Arabian Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman sending thugs abroad to poison, murder, torture, silence, and intimidate dissidents to their dictatorial regimes. They are a threat to international peace and security and subvert the rule-based international order championed by the United States.

    “To permit President Buhari’s and Attorney General Malami’s thuggery to escape with impunity would be unacceptable.”

    (Vanguard)

  • I will not resign prematurely from office- Malami

    I will not resign prematurely from office- Malami

    Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has said he would not resign prematurely from office but would end his tenure by May 2023.

    He stated this at a conference organised by the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC) where he was the guest speaker, denying media reports that he had resigned his cabinet position in President Buhari’s government.

    Malami urged journalists to refrain from publishing fake news even as he called for the prosecution of journalists used by mischievous politicians to attack politicians.

    “It is high time we enhance media literacy for Nigerians to appreciate fact-checking and verification of information. Many who rely on some unprofessional information disseminators will be taken aback that the Malami that was claimed to have resigned as Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was still seen in office discharging his functions, including attending the Federal Executive Council meeting yesterday, granting interviews to journalists and still today declaring this conference open as the Attorney General of the Federation.

    “There is naturally an end to everything. My tenure in office has not yet ended. I pray for a glorious end. I call on journalists to refrain from fake news, defamation, sedition, hate speech, blasphemy, and incitements of inflammatory statements in their reportage that could jeopardise our corporate existence as a nation and hamper the peace we have been enjoying.”

    The AGF commended NAJUC for organising the conference, saying it was “a clear indication of working towards making positive impression and impact in democratic process and nation building.”

    NAJUC Chairman, Kayode Lawal, said the conference was part of concerted effort to train, retrain and build capacity of judiciary correspondents to enhance their reportage.

    (Sun)

  • 36 state attorneys general sue Malami

    36 state attorneys general sue Malami

    wants supreme court to declare as unconstitutional the federal government’s failure to turn in income and returns obtained from recovered and forfeited assets.

    The 36 state attorney-generals in Nigeria have sued Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation over seized assets and recovered funds.

    In an originating summons filed before the supreme court, the state attorneys sought the court to stop President Buhari through Ms Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, and Mr Malami from maintaining any other accounts for remitting assets recoveries and forfeitures other than the federal government accounts provided in the constitution as it is unconstitutional.

    They want the apex court to declare as unconstitutional for Mr Buhari or his appointees, Ms Zainab and Mr Malami, to “maintain any other accounts in the central bank of Nigeria such as Asset Recovery Account and the Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account or indeed any other account however for the purpose of remitting all the receipts, income, returns or proceeds derived from all assets recovered, seized, confiscated and forfeited other than the federal government account established under section 162 of the constitution of the of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999,” the document read.

    “The failure and/or refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari, the minister of finance, the office of the AGF, and the accountant-general of the federation, and all other relevant authorities and/or agencies of the federation to remit the receipts, income, returns or proceeds derived from all assets recovered, seized, confiscated and forfeited into the federation account to be distributed in accordance with the provisions of section 162 of the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 among the Federal, State and local Government is unconstitutional,” the document said.

    The summons contained an order of the court for the aforementioned persons to account for the income received from seized assets and recovered funds to the tune of N1.8 trillion.

    “Mr Buhari, Ms Ahmed and Mr malami have a duty to account for all the receipts, income, returns or proceeds derived from all assets recovered, seized, confiscated and forfeited to the federal republic of Nigeria in the sum of N1,836,906,543,658.73 (Cash) and N450,000,000,000.00 (Non-cash) which were nice remitted to the federal account in line with section 162 of the constitution,” the document said.

    (Peoples Gazette)