Malami Speaks On Alleged Involvement In Raid Of Justice Odili Home

• Malami has spoken about the alleged involvement in raid of Justice Odili home.

 

EKOHOTBLOG reports that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has denied his involvement in the raid of the residence of Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mary Odili, in the Maitama area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

 

The residence of the Supreme Court Judge at lmo Rivers Street in Maitama was said to have been raided by fully armed plain-clothed security men for undisclosed reasons at about 5pm on Friday.

The security men were said to consist of soldiers and officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) who identified themselves as members of a joint task force.

Security operatives guarding the house were said to have resisted the takeover of the house without a court order, while the joint task force insisted on staying around the residence, waiting for the occupants to surrender so they could take over the house.

However, Malami, while reacting to the alleged involvement via a statement on Saturday, stated that he was not in “any way connected with the fabrications and concocted lies linking him to the ensued imbroglio relating to news stories about the residence of a Justice of the Supreme Court; Justice Mary Odili”.

The statement was signed by the AGF’s media aide, Umar Gwandu.

Gwandu noted that the clarification to debunk the mischievous publication became imperative in view of the media hype and the dimension the story is taking.

The statement read, “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 media reports on the issue depict to untidy process that could never emanate from the Office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

“The general public needs 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.

READ ALSO: Justice Odili Reportedly Missing After Security Operatives Raided Abuja Residence

“What we have is Inter-Ministerial Committee on Assets Recovery” the mandate of which does not include stings operations. Numerous incongruities in the documents being circulated in relation to the saga reveal traces of criminal actions which particular regards to:

1. The name as contained on the purported letter headed paper “Ghost’s Account For Local Whistle Blowers & Assets Tax Recovery Panel”,

2. The ambiguous reference to “Ministry of Justice” without clarifying as to whether it is Federal or State Ministry and of which State,
3. The claimed office address which as revealed by the letter headed paper is not the address of the Federal Ministry of Justice
4. Email address used on the letter

“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 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.

“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,” the statement concluded.

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