Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
House of Representatives yesterday descended on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for his role in the retrial of the Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).
The house faulted the decision of the AGF to re-arraign Saraki before the chairman of the CCT, Justice Danladi Umar, who is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged corruption.
The lawmakers expressed concern that Justice Umar, who was earlier absolved of any wrong doing, was slammed with a two-count charge of corruption before the FCT High Court by EFCC.
The lower chamber contended that asking the CCT chairman, to retry Saraki, who was earlier acquitted, gave the “impression that a game is being arranged to meet certain predetermined result portraying our legal system as capable of being manipulated.”
The Green Chamber condemned the “manipulation of our legal system” by the AGF and the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu.
It mandated its Committee on Judiciary to interact with Malami to bring sanity to the Senate President’s case at the CCT.
This followed a motion by Yakubu Barde on the need to ensure sanity in the administration of justice in the fight against corruption by the AGF.
He said there was something wrong with the decision of the AGF to reassign Saraki’s trial to Justice Umar, especially as the latter was charged to court for corruption by the EFCC, supervised by Malami.
According to the lawmaker, the government must be fair in the prosecution of its anti-graft war.
Barde argued that the behaviour of the AGF if not checked would subject the country to international ridicule.
He urged the House to condemn the actions of the AGF.