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No fewer than 11 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have faulted some of the candidates nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari for ministerial appointments, saying their choice will worsen the war against corruption.
Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre for Africa (PAACA), Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement (YIAGA) Africa, Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA) and African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) are among the CSOs that cited the nomination of Abubakar Malami as a major threat to Nigeria’s anti-corruption war.
Others include Protest to Power (P2P), Keen and Care Initiative, Connected Development (CODE), Social Action, Yes Project and Lawyers Network Against Corruption (LAWNAC).
Speaking at a joint press conference in Abuja, the group, which noted that Buhari had continued to make mockery of the anti-corruption war by nominating questionable personalities, who are either being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or accused of serious misconduct.
Vowing to stop the appointment of Malami through the courts, should the president and the National Assembly fail to halt it, the group stressed that Malami’s return as minister “casts serious doubts on Buhari’s anti-corruption war.”
Malami, a politician and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), is the immediate past Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
The CSOs noted that Malami’s case remained obvious because despite being former AGF, he allegedly paid over $15 million to his colleagues through a phony recovery contract, contrary to available records showing that all negotiations and payment in respect of the return of the $323 million Abacha loot had been concluded long before the phony contract.
They described Malami as the “barrier-in-chief” to the anti-corruption campaign, stating that he failed to provide much needed leadership, blocking requests for international cooperation for the prosecution of high profile cases and frustrating civil society’s effort to elicit compliance with the freedom of information legislation.
“Mr. Malami’s characteristic lack of interest and deliberate frustration of anti-corruption efforts in the last four years quickly squandered the initial optimism and public support that greeted the administration’s emergence in 2015, leaving hollow anti-corruption campaign and a distrusting public in the countdown to the 2019 elections.
“Nigeria’s reputation as exemplar for corruption failed to record any significant improvement under the watch of Mr. Malami as the chief lawmaker and AGF. Back to back ranking by Transparency International showed no improvement in public perception of corruption in Nigeria,” they stated.
According to the group, the United States government had repeatedly insisted never to return the outstanding $500 million, another Abacha loot, to Nigeria as long as Malami is in office as AGF.