Malami Denies Disobeying Osinbajo

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AGF Abubakar Malami, has denied disobeying a directive issued by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo concerning the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Osinbajo had on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari convened a meeting of senior lawyers in the APC concerning the crisis created by the Supreme Court ruling on the Ondo state governorship election.

While some members of the party said Osinbajo ordered the AGF not to go ahead with the party’s state congresses, some said the VP never gave such directive to Malami.

This has now been addressed by Malami through a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Umar Gwandu,

The statement read, “It is important to put the record straight that congresses and the conduct thereof are a function of a political party and not the office of the Attorney General.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is not responsible for the implementation of directives relating to party administration as it is rightly known.

“It is, therefore, incongruous and antithetical to common sense to think that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice refusing to obey directives over which he has no legal responsibility to execute.

“The allegation does not represent the true position of things, please. It is a common knowledge that the two eminent personalities are both lawyers, hence could be entitled to their respective opinions within the context of Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that upholds freedom of expression.

“It is a tradition and normal experience in life that lawyers express divergent opinions which in some cases are not rooted in the majority decision of the Supreme Court on speculations and insinuations.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is not bound by any conclusion put across which should naturally be persuasive and not binding.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice remain law-abiding and wholeheartedly abiding by presidential directives.”