The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, (SAN) has debunked claims by several quarters that he is plotting alongside other top government functionaries to frustrate the disbursement of a United Nations grant fund.
In a statement signed by his media aide, Dr. Umaru Gwandu, he said his attention was drawn to a viral Social Media message on “the so-called disbursement of UN grants”.
Malami described the viral message as the handiwork of mischief makers whose aim is to tarnish his public image and drag to disrepute.
He noted that that although he is a member of the Executive Council of the Federal Government, his office, is not connected with a such an international program in anyway.
Part of the statement reads: “We have noticed that the aim of the message was crowd-sourcing to persuade the gullible public to perpetuate an attempt by agents of blackmail, merchant of acrimony and peddlers of falsehood and hatred to reincarnate for the umpteenth time their vituperation to bring the name of Abubakar Malami and the office of Honourable Attorney General of the Federation into disrepute.
“We deem it pertinent to put the record straight. We want to make it unambiguously clear that neither in his individual capacity nor as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, CON, has any link with the so-called United Nations Grant. He does not have any inkling as to what they were referring to and could not have in any way stoop so low to hijack such a process which at any rate was not part of his constitutional mandate.
“The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is not a meddlesome interloper. He is engrossed in discharging the befitting constitutionally recognised responsibility and statutory mandates accorded his Office.
“If the grant is ‘given to Nigerians by the United Nations’ as claimed by the writer of the message, one wonders how could a member of the Executive Council of the Federal Government who is not in any way connected with such ‘international progra’ scuttle or serve as an encumbrance to what is supposed to be laid down internationally recognised processes and procedures.
“We will appreciate if the names of the individuals and personalities mentioned in the write up including the alleged signatory could: Voice out personal testimonies as to who was the Malami they were referring to?
“How did the so-called Malami and the Cabal reach out to them?
“Expose the agents or vendors, if any, that were used to block their access to the so-called grant.
“It is evident the ulterior motive of the writer of the message was to garner public support in a morbid attempt, groping to bring to ridicule Nigeria’s pristine image.
The statement further asserted that, “The demand that Nigeria is sanctioned is not only laughable but demonstrated the shallow mindset and intellectual superficiality of the writer who appears to be bereft of ideas and apparently ignorant of international processes and procedures of financial engagements between nations and financial institutions and organizations.
“We call on the general public to disregard the statement and its content in entirety as it is characterised by evincing factually incorrect statements as to the knowledge of the operations, convention and procedures of a highly regarded international organisation.
“The statement is replete with falsehood and vilification in an unsuccessful attempt to cast aspersions against the Attorney-General General of the Federation.”