Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation, has agreed to defend his allegations against the suspened EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, if summoned by the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential panel.
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Malami, during an interview on Arise TV Wednesday said Magu’s letter to the panel to summon him for a cross-examination on the substance and credibility of his allegations — is a great opportunity he would not throw away.
Magu, has been accused by Malami, among other things of — abuse of office and mismanagement of federal government recovered assets and finances.
The suspended EFCC boss through Wahab Shittu, his lawyer, in a letter dated Friday, September 4, had asked the Chairman of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry applied for the issuance of a Subpoena on Malami to appear before the panel to give evidence concerning his memo to President Muhammadu Buhari in connection with the inquiry.
Magu said he believes that in line with the fundamental principles of fair hearing as guaranteed under the constitution, he is entitled to be confronted with copies of the allegations against him as well as the opportunity to confront his main accuser (in this case, the Hon. Attorney General of the Federation.
Responding to a question during the interview, Malami said, “So, if indeed the Ayo Salami panel invites Abubakar Malami as a person or the AGF in the person of Abubakar Malami for any testimony, for any clarification, for examination or cross-examination for that matter, Abubakar Malami will wholeheartedly, gladly within the spirit and context of the rule of law be there to testify, be there to be cross-examined, be there to be examined within the context of the rule of law.
“Our position as a government is to be submissive to the rule of law and the rule of law component of it requires that when we are called upon to clarify issues, when we are called upon to be examined, when we are called upon to be cross-examined, Abubakar Malami will be there and will gladly cooperate with the inquiry institution and that indeed was an attribute of the government that translated to the victory we are seeing today arising from P&ID.
“Abubakar Malami has along the line, within the chain of the arbitral process, submitted to uncountable invitations, responded to uncountable requests for clarification of issues and indeed executed uncountable witness statements for the purpose of putting the record straight and the case of Salami will certainly not be an exception.”
