By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA — A coalition of Civil Society Organisations, on Sunday, alleged that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, is under attack for exposing corruption.
The groups, Northern Youths Progressive Assembly, South West Youths Congress and South East Youths Movement Of Nigeria, at a joint press conference in Abuja, decried what they termed as a sustained “campaign of calumny” against the AGF and other key officials in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement that was signed by coordinators of the coalition, Comrade Adamu Kabir Matazu, Comrade Olamide Odumosu and Comrade Emmanuel B Chidibere, they maintained that the aim of the heightened media attacks on Malami is to derail the anti-corruption agenda of the President Buhari-led government.
The CSOs highlighted some of Malami’s achievements since his appointment as the AGF to include his stand on the fight against corruption in line with policies of President Buhari’s administration; his advice to the federal government in the Process and Industrial Development Limited (P&ID) case where Nigeria would have lost $9.6billion to dubious characters, as well as proactive and preventive steps he took in the fight against Sex and Gender-Based Violence in the country.
“For these reasons and many more, we, the Northern Youths Progressive Assembly, South West Youths Congress And South East Youths Movement Of Nigeria are passing VOTES of CONFIDENCE on Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice because we are sure of his capability to bring the needed turn around to the justice sector in line with the vision of the government of President Buhari.
”From our findings, we discovered that the reason for the attacks on the Honourable AGF is simply because he is exposing corrupt elements in this government in line with the vision of the present administration on zero tolerance for corruption.
“The AGF has done all within his power to expose corrupt elements in government who want to bring ridicule and shame to the administration of President Buhari, who is doing his best to ensure a free, fair and just society for all Nigerians.
”We, the Northern Youths Progressive Assembly, South West Youths Congress and South East Youths Movement of Nigeria, hereby, call on the Honourable AGF to stay focused and not be distracted by the noise of those who are vehemently opposed to the anti-corruption fight of Mr. President.
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”We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to disregard all the baseless allegations and campaign of calumny against the AGF, the SSA to the President on Media and Publicity and other government functionaries who are working very hard to deliver on the promises of Mr. President to Nigerians”.
The group described the detractors as frustrated opposition who lost election in 2015 and 2019 and are yet to recover from the shock of their loss.
“They are hell-bent on causing havoc to achieve their aim of destabilizing the country through unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations against government officials.
”Their motive to cause unrest with their unsuccessful “RevolutionNow” didn’t work due to the foresight of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
”In addition to this campaign of calumny, there are clandestine plans which constitute threats to the life of the Attorney-General of the Federation whom they consider as a stumbling block in achieving their goals.
“We call on authorities to beef up security around the AGF and hold these detractors responsible for anything that happens to this patriotic, detribalised and selfless Chief Law Officer of the Country”, the statement further read.
