|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Nigerians who are considered by the government to constitute security threats to the state will remain in detention even if the courts rule for their release, the immediate-past Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has explained.
Spiritual leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, have been held in security custody since 2015, as the Federal Government has continued to hold them in detention.
In recent times, there have been violent protests in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by IMN members calling for the release of their leader. A clash between the police and the sect members left a Deputy Commissioner of Police and a reporter with Channels Television dead.
Malami, however, explained that Nigerians who remain security threat to the nation, will continued to be detained in public interest.
Malami spoke in Abuja on Thursday during his screening as a ministerial nominee.
In a veiled reference to the continued detention of El-Zakzaky and Dasuki despite court orders, Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe had wondered why some Nigerian are detained against court orders.
The lawyer said: “I concede that I had a responsibility as the Attorney General of the Federation to protect individual rights. But looking at the provisions of Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to reiterate and state further that the office of the Attorney General is made to protect public interest and where the individual interests conflict with public interest, the interest of 180 million Nigerians that are interested in having this country integrated must naturally prevail.
“And I think that position has been very well captured by the apex court that had stated in the case of Alhaji Asari Dokubo and the Federal Government of Nigeria that where an individual interest conflicts with public interest, the latter naturally prevails.”
According to him, as of November 2018, the government had increased the recovery account from N19 billion to N279 billion.
He explained that as the chief law officer for Nigeria between 2015 and 2019, he secured 59 convictions out of 63 cases during the period under review.
On the rejection of majority of bills passed by the Eighth National Assembly, he described the situation as regrettable, adding that with collaborative effort from both the Executive and the Legislature, there won’t be a repeat in Ninth Assembly.
