The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN)has justified the action of the Department of Secret Services in invading the houses of the seven judges and in their forceful arrests.
His words:
“The fundamental consideration is whether
there is an allegation of the commission of a crime, whether there is
the need for investigation, and whether the relevant provisions of the
law and indeed, all circumstances, as provided in the Administration of
Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) are put into consideration in our conduct as
regards the fight against corruption.
“The bottom line is that we have a
responsibility to fight corruption. Corruption is a crime and nobody,
regardless of how highly placed is exempted as far as issues that border
on crimes and criminalities are concerned.
“The limited exceptions as we know
constitutionally are the exceptions of immunity. And to the best of my
knowledge, those exceptions do not apply to investigation.
“For those that are conferred with the immunity, the right to investigate has not been taken away constitutionally.
“So I think the framework and the
circumstances within which we are operating are clearly whether there
exists the right to investigate or not, and whether the action borders
on criminality.
“Once crimes and criminality are
concerned, nobody is an exception. I think the undertone should be
exclusively the consideration of the existence of a prima facie case;
existence of reasonable grounds for suspicion of commission of a crime.
“And if there are, no member of the
legislature, judiciary and executive can definitely be exempted from
investigation. I think where we are now is the point of investigation
and that is what is taking place,” he said.
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