Former Justice Minister Abubakar Malami Begs Nigerians For Justice https://ift.tt/czoUT6x #Issues #Buhari #Dasuki #Dss #EFCC #Kanu #Malami #Sowore January 24th, 2026 January 24, 2026 11:53 pm Abubakar Malami, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation who was in office from November 2015 till May 2023 when the then President Muhammadu Buhari completed his eight years tenure in office, under which, Courts of competent jurisdiction granted several detained Nigerians bail but the Buhari government refused to release them and even rearrested some of them after they had perfected their bail conditions, the then Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami who was saddled with the responsibility of protecting citizens' rights, came out openly and apparently justified the violations of court orders by the then Buhari led government, and during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Malami, frequently defended the actions of the government's refusal to obey courts orders of bail granted to high profile individuals by asserting that national security and public interest superseded individual rights, some of the high profile individuals included Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser in the era of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who was held for four years from December 2015 to December 2019, despite being granted bail by at least four different Nigerian high courts and the ECOWAS Court, he was repeatedly re-arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS immediately after fulfilling bail conditions, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenah, detained from December 2015 until they were released in July 2021 were refused bail after Federal court declared their detention illegal in 2016 and ordered their release by January 2017, but the government under which Abubakar Malami was a Justice Minister did not comply, until they were eventually acquitted of all charges by a Kaduna State High Court in 2021, also, Omoyele Sowore, an activist and a Journalist who is the founder of SaharaReporters news media remained in DSS custody for several months in 2019 despite fulfilling bail conditions set by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, he was re-arrested within the courtroom just 24 hours after a temporary release, Nnamdi Kanu, the convicted and jailed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB Leader was refused bail during his initial trial in 2015, President Buhari then publicly stated during a media chat that Kanu among others would not be allowed to go on bail due to the nature of their alleged crimes, despite court rulings, in addition, was Navy Captain Dada Labinjo who was detained by the Nigeria Military from September 2018 until at least late 2019, despite a Federal High Court order for his release and during these periods, Abubakar Malami provided several justifications for these detentions, most notably during his 2019 ministerial screening: Malami stated that the office of the AGF is meant to protect the public interest, and "where the individual interest conflicts with the public interest, the interest of 180 million Nigerians must naturally prevail", he cited the Supreme Court case of Asari Dokubo versus Federal Republic of Nigeria, arguing, it established that national security could supersede personal liberty in specific contexts and when Dasuki and Sowore were finally released in December 2019, Malami claimed the government did so on "compassionate grounds" and in compliance with court orders, while denying that international pressure from the United States, US influenced the decision, currently, the then apparent defender and justifier of government disobedient to court orders, is now calling on Nigerians and begging them to help him get justice since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC kept him in custody against court order that he had said earlier granted him bail and after perfecting his bail conditions, he was rearrested by the DSS and since he has remained in detention. #OsazuwaAkonedo
