President Buhari and AGF Malami.
Malami has spoken on sending secret memo to Buhari.
Newsone reports Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), has denied issuing a secret memo asking President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the Nigeria’s constitution and declare martial law (state of emergency).
This online news platform had reported earlier that President Muhammadu Buhari is in the process of declaring a state of emergency across the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Newsone understands that the development was disclosed in a secret memo and official accounts sent to the President by AGF Malami and sighted by Peoples Gazette.
According to the report by the Gazette, Attorney-General Abubakar Malami has already written lengthy legal advice to President Buhari, urging him to move swiftly to suspend the fundamental rights of all Nigerians as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution.
AGF Malami in the eight-page secret memo dated May 4, 2021, told President Buhari that insecurity across Nigeria has reached a level that could no longer be checked by existing democratic techniques, saying only a state of emergency promulgated by the president can help return the country to tranquillity.
“The essence of declaration is to allow for suspension of constitutional and legal bureaucratic bottlenecks pertaining to matters of National Security with particular regards to fundamental rights guaranteed under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution and processes and procedures relating to procurements, among others,” the attorney-general said.
However, in his response to the alleged secret memo, AGF Malami has denied the report, saying that ” it is unbelievable that such a memo can originate from his office as he remains a firm believer in the tenets of democracy and constitutional order.”
Newsone reports that AGF Malami denied who the report in a statement on Wednesday night, June 2 by his media aide Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, described himself as a supporter of constitutional democracy.
Malami added that the government doesn’t operate in secrecy, hence there was no need to have written any secrete memo to the presidency as claimed in the report.
“The attention of the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has been drawn to a false and fictitious report alleging that there was a secret memo emanating from the Office to the Presidency,” the statement reads.
AGF continued that the general public is “hereby asked to disregard the media report as fabrications of anti-constitutional democratic stability in Nigeria.”
“Malami remains a true democrat who believes in rules of law and tenets of democracy and Constitutional order.”
“The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is a constitutionally recognized one with its role and responsibilities embedded in the constitution.”
“It is antithetical to common sense to think that the holder of such coveted Office as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will stoop to what was printed by the media.”
“The Government does not operate in secrecy as it is not a clandestine operation. Hence, Malami discharges his constitutionally recognized mandates in compliance with principles of transparency, openness and accountability.”