Malami Confirms Sending Policemen To Magodo, Blasts Sanwo-Olu, Other
Governors Over Issue
Abubakar Malami, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, has said that policemen dispatched to Magodo Phase 2 Estate area of
Lagos State were there on his orders, according to SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters had reported that a Chief Superintendent of Police on Tuesday
openly defied Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s order to vacate the area.
The police officer told the governor that he and his colleagues were at the
estate on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba; as well
as the Attorney General of the Federation.
Sanwo-Olu had led members of his cabinet to visit the residents protesting the
continued presence of armed policemen in the estate.
For days, policemen besieged the estate in company with suspected land
grabbers and members of a family, who had planned to demolish property in the
choice estate to execute a Supreme Court justice.
The development caused a commotion at the estate as landlords and tenants
worried over their fate.
Reacting on Wednesday, South-West governors in a statement signed by Rotimi
Akeredolu of Ondo State described the development as unacceptable to the
governors.
They also condemned in clear terms, the role of the Attorney-General of the
Federation in the issue.
But in a reaction on Wednesday night, Malami in a statement by his Special
Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Umar Gwandu, reminded them that his
office “belonged to the Executive arm of government, while the Supreme Court
belongs to the judiciary”.
He also faulted the criticism of South-West governors, saying nothing was
unruly about the operations of the police officers’ presence at the estate.
He said the role of the executive was to maintain law and order in due
compliance with rule of law arising from giving effect to the judgment of the
apex court of the land.
The statement reads, “It is important to state that the Office of the
Attorney-General of the Federation belongs to the executive arm of the
government. The Supreme Court belongs to the judiciary. The Office of the
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice takes exception to
the South-West governor’s unjustifiable insinuation of impunity against the
office of the Attorney-General over the execution of a judgment of the Supreme
Court.
“The role of the executive is, in this respect, simply to aide the maintenance
of law and order in due compliance with rule of law arising from giving effect
to the judgment of the apex court of the land. Let it be known that the issue
is regarding a Supreme Court judgment that was delivered in 2012 long before
the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in office at a time
when Malami was not a minister.
“The judgment was a reaffirmation of the judgments of Court of Appeal and High
Court delivered on 31st December 1993. It is widely reported in the papers
that the Lagos State governor was quoted to have said “I’ve spoken extensively
with the Inspector-General of Police and Attorney-General, and we’ve resolved
all the issues.
“The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice
would appreciate if the coalition of the governors will help to unravel the
circumstances preventing the Lagos State Government from enforcing the court
order despite several attempts from 2012- 2015 and so-called settlement
initiative started in 2016.
“Some of the cardinal pillars of democratic
The government is the doctrine of separation of powers and obedience to the
rule of law inclusive of court orders.
“It is a common knowledge that execution of the judgment and orders of courts
of competent jurisdiction, and the court of last resort in the circumstances
remains a cardinal component of the rule of law and the office of the
Attorney-General wonders how maintenance of the law and orders in the course
of execution of the judgment of the Supreme Court can be adjudged by the
imagination of the governors to be unruly. We want to restate that sanctity of
the rule of law is not a matter of choice.”
