By Mudiaga Affe, Andy Asemota, David Lawani and Cajetan Mmuta
More knocks have come the way of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), as senior lawyers, activists, and groups have called for his sacking from the cabinet.

The AGF’s comparison of open grazing with the sale of spare parts, they argue, was an “awkward analogy”.
Governors of the 17 states in the south had met penultimate week in Asaba, Delta State, where they called for the restructuring of the country, ban on open grazing, among other national issues.

Malami, while reacting on the governors demands on Channels Television last week, stated that the resolve to ban open grazing by southern governors was equivalent to prohibiting spare parts trading in the north.

The AGF said, “The decision does not hold water in the context of human rights as enshrined in the constitution. It is about constitutionality within the context of the freedoms expressed in our constitution. Can you deny the rights of a Nigerian?” he queried.

“For example it is as good as saying, perhaps, maybe, the northern governors coming together to say they prohibit spare parts trading in the north. “Does it hold water? Does it hold water for a northern governor to come and state expressly that he now prohibits spare parts trading in the north?”

But some Senior Advocates of Nigeria including Chief Mike Ozekhome and Joseph Okutepa as well as an Abuja-based lawyer, Dr. Kayode Ajulo; Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinaya Abaribe; President, National Association of Seadogs, Mr. Abiola Owoaje; former Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu; and a First Republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, said such a statement from the chief law officer of the country was “sad and unfortunate”.

Ozekhome said northern elite, including Malami, missed the point when they compared Igbo spare part dealers who go about their lawful businesses with criminal Fulani herders.

He said, “The Northern elite, including the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, missed the point sorely when they compared Igbo peaceful spare-parts dealers who go about their normal spare parts business legitimately, (building or renting their shops), with savage, maniacal AK-47-wielding herdsmen.

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“Igbo traders do not kill or attack northerners with their stock of motor-tyres, rims, spanners, or chassis. They do not pour petrol from fuel tanks that they sell on Fulani herdsmen. They do not use car bumpers or wind shields to smash the heads of herdsmen.”

According to Ozekhome, freedom of movement is only for human beings and not for cattle, sheep, and goats.
“Will the northerners tolerate the open sale of alcoholic beverages in their states, even though it is the constitutional right of other ethnic groups to move about and sell beverages of their choice,” he queried, adding,

“Are these northern elite seriously arguing that southern state governors cannot ban open grazing in their states, to protect their innocent citizens from deadly killer herdsmen?

He advised southern governors to immediately sue the Federal Government, invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under section 232 of the 1999 Constitution.

Another SAN, Zibiri, urged the southern governors to domesticate their collective decisions and begin the process of implementing the anti-grazing law.
“Governors of southern states as the custodian of the constitution in their states have a responsibility to protect the lives, property, public health and safety of their states,” he said.

Yet, on his part, Okutepa said Malami’s statement was like comparing death with sleep.
Okutepa added, “I think the statement by the AGF is as sad as it is unfortunate. It is akin to comparing death with sleep. The office of the Attorney-General is serious. Anyone occupying the office must exhibit pan-Nigerian dispositions at all the time.”
The Minority Leader of the Senate, said Malami’s ill-advised comment had exposed his mindset about Nigeria.

Abaribe said, “While the local “bureau de change” business mostly done by the Fulani are operating in all parts of Nigeria, why have they not elicited any resentment of other Nigerians? It is simply because they live and do their business peacefully without any problem. It is the murderous activities of Fulani herders that have given rise to the current demand for laws that will bring about peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians.

“Why should an AGF be so fixated in evoking ethnic/regional fault lines when duty calls for him to be a statesman? It is disheartening that Mr. Abubakar Malami has chosen to debase our country. He has indeed questioned Nigeria’s unity. Very unfortunate,” Abaribe said in a statement by his media aide, Uche Awon.

For Ajulo, attempt to criticise the actions of the southern governors on open grazing was detrimental to national security.
Ajulo, who runs a law firm in Abuja, said, “From all indications, any attempt to criticise the actions of the southern governors on the ban of open grazing which is a regulation of pasturing and herding of cows is calculated to fan the embers of sectionalism, and to polarise people along ethnic lines to the detriment of national security.”

Malami unfit to remain as AGF- Lawyers
Also, a lawyer, Elempe Dele, said Malami reduced his status by comparing killer herdsmen with legitimate spare parts dealers. “How can the Minister of Justice reduce himself to the level of not knowing the difference between trespassers (let’s put it lightly) and legal occupiers of shops who pay rents to landlords?

“I wish Malami could compare bandits to school teachers, kidnappers to medical doctors, robbers to estate developers, terrorists to taxi drivers, and perhaps Abubakar Malami to Abubakar Shekau since the names sound alike.

A former journalist, Mr. Osazua Ivbaze, said, “As a law officer, Malami should have known that his submission portrayed poverty of logic. It is not too late for Buhari to fire Malami who, by his pronouncements and actions, has exposed this country to global ridicule.” A former Aviation Minister, Amaechi, said Malami’s outburst had exposed how the country’s leadership valued its citizens.

According to him, if the government that hired him thinks he is doing the right thing by condemning the position of the southern governors, the governors had made their decisions and their position is within the ambit of the law and space. “Whatever Malami said shows the level and standards of the legal department of the federal government. It shows the standards of the legal make up of the government. When somebody comes so low, it shows the standard is so low,” Amaechi explained.

Also, a senior lawyer and Political Adviser to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, Chief Ifeatu Obi Okoye, said the comments by Malami were an embarrassment.
He said, “As a lawyer, I am embarrassed about the statement coming from a SAN, and more so the AGF. The comparison is illiterate, coming from somebody who should be well informed.”

Don’t give official seal to Malami’s statement
However, a former governor of Niger State rejected what he described as giving an official seal to the political opinion of the minister.

Babangida, who aligned with governors’ position that the era of open grazing was over, however, said it was possible to divorce Malami’s unfortunate comments as a politician from his office. He said, “We are paying too much attention to political statements that is why a little statement should even be looked at all. I see this (AGF’s statement) not in terms of his office, I see it more in terms of a politician.”