The Hypocrisy of Mr. Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Nigeria, over the incarceration of Mr. Sowore Omoyele have gone beyond the pale. This is a short piece, and it is a protest piece. The focus is not just the justiciability or otherwise of the allegations levelled against Sowore, but the professional ethics implications and the duplicity of the AG in gauging the essence and fundamentals of an "Independent Judiciary."
According to the Attorney General:
"Well, as far as I am concerned, treason is treason … we have an obligation and right to present our case before the court. And for your information, we OPERATE A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT RECOGNISES THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY AND THE THREE ARMS OF GOVERNMENT. So, what we have done is to PRESENT OUR CASE BEFORE THE JUDICIARY, WHICH ENJOYS INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM TO DETERMINE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. Not that we have taken the law into our hands by way of adjudging him guilty, but presenting him before the judiciary so that he could be accorded the opportunity to present a counter case for the consideration and determination of the court." The emphasis is mine.
That was the AG of Nigeria, before a BBC Reporter.
If the AG so much prides himself on upholding the universal tenets of the rule of law and presiding over an independent judiciary under the three arms of government, the question remains: why is the retired Col Dasuki still in prison? Why are El Zakzaky and his wife still in prison? How come Sowore Omoyele is still in detention or prison despite a series of contrary rulings by the same independent judiciary? You cannot suddenly turn into an advocate of a jurisprudential philosophy that you do not subscribe to when your interests and those of the administration that you serve are threatened. And that is the height of hypocrisy.
Please, I want to reiterate as I said in the opening paragraph that this piece is not about the charges leveled against Mr. Omoyele - bogus and frivolous as they are - but the blatant displace of arrogance by an AG who ought to have been disbarred and stripped of his SANship by now over uncountable records of violations of court orders.
