Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, has denied any link with a “so-called disbursement of United Nations Grants.” This was disclosed, yesterday, in a statement signed by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Office of the AGF and Minister of Justice.
The statement, entitled: ‘Attempt at defamation and blackmail’, reads in part: “Our attention has been drawn to a viral social media message on the so-called disbursement of United Nations Grants.
“We have noticed that the aim of the message was crowd-sourcing, to persuade the gullible public, to perpetrate an attempt by agents of blackmail, merchants 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 AGF 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 AGF and Minister of Justice has he any link with the so-called grant.
“He does not have any inkling as to what they were referring to and could not have in anyway stooped so low to hijack such a process, which at any rate is not part of his constitutional mandate.
“The AGF and Minister of Justice is not a meddlesome interloper. He is engrossed with 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 a member of the Executive Council of the Federal Government, who is not in any way connected with such ‘international programme’ would scuttle or serve as an encumbrance to what is supposed to be laid-down internationally recognised processes and procedures.”
According to the statement, the office of the AGF would 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 the Malami they were referring to; say how the so-called Malami and cabal reached out to them; and expose the agents or vendors, if any, that were used to block their access to the so-called grant.
It added: “It is evident the ulterior motive of the writer of the message was to garner public support in a morbid attempt at bringing to ridicule Nigeria’s pristine image.
“The demand that Nigeria be sanctioned is not only laughable but also demonstrates the shallow mindset and intellectual superficiality of the writer who appears to be bereft of ideas, and is apparently ignorant of international processes and procedure of financial engagements between nations and financial institutions and organisations.
“We call on the general public to disregard the statement and its content in its entirety. It is replete with falsehood and vilification, in an unsuccessful attempt to cast aspersions against the AGF.”
