Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has denied any involvement in the siege laid to the Abuja residence of Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court.
Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, in a statement made available to The Star on Saturday, said the Federal Government has ordered investigation into the matter.
A siege was laid to Justice Odili’s residence in Maitama, Abuja on Friday by security operations.
Both the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have denied any involvement in the sting operation.
Malami has also being accused of misleading the Chief Magistrate in given the search warrant order.
Speaking on the development, Gwandu said: “It is important to set the record straight that as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, Malami will not stoop too low to be associated with an apparent in-elegant and nasty court process on the strength of which the purported search warrant was procured.”
The Office of the AGF stated that there are numerous inconsistencies in the documents being circulated in relation to the saga, which it said reveal traces of criminal actions.
“The media reports on the issue depict too untidy process that could never emanate from the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“The general public need to know that there was nothing called “Joint Panel Recovery Under the Ministry of Justice” in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and by extension the entire Federal Ministry of Justice.
“What we have is “Assets Recovery and Management Unit” the mandate of which does not include stings operations,” the minister said.
It questioned the name contained on the purported letter headed paper “Ghost’s Account For Local Whistle Blowers & Assets Tax Recovery Panel”; the ambiguous reference to “Ministry of Justice” without clarifying as to whether it is Federal or State Ministry and of which State; the claimed office address which as revealed by the letter headed paper is not the address of the Federal Ministry of Justice; and the Email address used on the letter
Gwandu said all these deductions would have assisted a discerning mind to arrive at a reasonable conclusion of criminal undertones associated with the court process on the basis of which the purported search warrant was procured.
The AGF said he has reached out to the relevant authorities to investigate the siege to Justice Odili’s residence and prosecute those behind the action.
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has since reached out to the relevant authorities for an intensified wider investigation on the matter for necessary actions leading to the prosecution of anyone involved in the matter in view of the fact that the only names on record from the process filed in court are a purported police officer who claimed to be “O/C Assets Recovery Team” and one Aliyu Umar a deponent in the affidavit,” he said.
The minister also denied given instruction that misled the Chief Magistrate who gave consent for the warrant of search.
“The claim of the chief magistrate as reported by a section of the media to the effect that he was being misled by office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice into the issuance of the search warrant is equally forwarded to the relevant investigation agencies to ascertain veracity or otherwise of the purported association of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and which officer if any in the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is associated with such claimed misrepresentation,” Gwandu said.
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