Corrupt politicians attempting to discredit achievements of current administration – AGF

Mr Abubakar Malami, (SAN), Minister of Justice has said that the security challenges bedeviling the country are the machinations of corrupt politicians with contrary positions.

Malami made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja, at the opening of an emergency “High Level Dialogue on Law, Justice and Insecurity in the country.

The dialogue was organised by the Ministry of Justice for the Attorneys-General of the 36 states of the federation as well as other stakeholders in the justice sector.

According to Malami, we are all living witnesses to how our security architecture and processes were compromised over the years of previous administrations in this country.

“Funds meant for the security of this nation were mindlessly looted and frittered away to the detriment of our collective well-being.

“These cumulative acts of brazen looting of security funds brought us to our present pass as a nation in respect of our capacity to respond to emerging security challenges.

“As we approach another general election in 2019, it is easy to see the hands of corrupt politicians with contrary positions in our present security problems as they desperately attempt to discredit all the gains made by this administration, for pure political gain.”

The minister said that forum was convened against the backdrop of the severe security challenges facing country, particularly the incidents of June 23 to 24 in Plateau.

“These horrendous incidents in Plateau are not isolated events but follow a pattern in some other states, notably Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and Adamawa.

The minister noted that using the instrumentality of the law, the government was currently prosecuting politically exposed persons within and outside the security services, accused of such crimes.

He, however, lamented that in spite of the best intentions and efforts of the Buhari administration, the nation was not fully out of the grip of the corrupt, privileged class.

“We are now confronted with a situation where they are using the humongous loot still in their possession, either directly or though proxies, to continuously launch attacks designed to subvert critical national and state institutions.

The AGF said that government was aware of the plots and negative actions through which the perpetrators expected to distract attention from their corrupt activities.

He called on the attorneys-general to as administrators of the law in their respective jurisdictions, be fully ready to deploy the full weight of the law to identify and punish all perpetrators of murder and other crimes.

“This should be irrespective of their religious and ethnic background, as all such cases must be treated as cases of criminality deserving the highest sanctions under our laws.

“Giving religious connotations to pure acts of criminality, even before investigation, can only serve to further deepen the national fault lines and inflame passions on all sides.

“No country survives a religious war and it is our collective prayer that Nigeria will never be pushed to that brink.”

Prof. Akin Oyebode in a paper presentation entitled:” Law, Justice and Security in Nigeria: A Plea for Good Governance” said that the country’s antidote to insecurity was good governance.

Oyebode, a professor of law, University of Lagos, noted the need to confront, head-on, forces that threatened to commits acts capable of leading to security failure.

He, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria’s prospect for survival was high as long as decisive action was taken to neutralize forces of discord and mayhem.