By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Like a lizard that fell from the iroko tree and rose to praise itself for a good job, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami has praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s Judicial Agenda which he said has led to the landmark achievements recorded by the ministry.
The Minister has also revealed that his ministry has helped the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) led by Buhari to secured over 1,000 convictions on terrorism-related cases within 18 months period just as it recovered over N3.2 billion (£6,324,627.66) of stolen monies from various jurisdictions globally from March 2021 to May 2022.
Malami who disclosed this to State House Correspondents on Thursday at the 46th Session of the State House Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said Ministry of Justice under his watch has also secured convictions for 312 other criminal cases within that period.
According to him, the Ministry within 18 months successfully executed over 350 Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests and over 50 extradition requests including extradition proceedings against suspended Mr. Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) from the United States of America (USA).
“My office filed extradition proceedings against the suspended DCP Abba Kyari in line with an MLA request from the USA”, he said.
Speaking further he said: “The Ministry has so far secured over 1,000 convictions on terrorism. Convictions have also been secured in 45 cases by the Complex Casework Group (CCG), Maritime Unit, and the Special Task Force on Electricity Offenses and across the 13 Zonal Offices of the Ministry.”
Malami however noted that the Ministry of Justice, through the CCG Unit, is coordinating the next phase of terrorism-related trials in collaboration with the Federal High Court, the Legal Aid Council, and the Defense Headquarters.
The Chief Legal Officer of Nigeria also explained that the Ministry has helped the Federal Government to generate a total of N1.82 billion from the sale of bid forms and actual sale of forfeited properties in the first 18 months of Buhari’s administration.
Meanwhile, Malami revealed that the proceeds of the recovered foreign loots have since been disbursed into key infrastructure projects nationwide which include the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge; Abuja-Kano Road and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway among others.
He noted that the Justice Ministry has supported the Federal Government in various infrastructure funding agreements, lamenting that the country currently grapples with a N329 billion funding gap.
He said an Inter-ministerial Committee on the Audit and Recovery of back years on stamp duty has so far recovered N596,055,479.47.
