Malami tackles Sahara Reporters; Magu questions his powers to sell oil vessels

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN has advised Sahara Reporters to within seven days retract all libelous, defamatory publications against him
Malami stated this in a statement signed by Dr Umar Gwandu, his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations in Abuja on Monday.
He said the consequence of the criminal defamation published by Sahara Reporters, has subjected him to considerable distress, psychological trauma and anxiety.
He said the publication has greatly injured his character and reputation, which is capable of lowering his estimation in in the eyes of right-thinking persons in the society.
He said that series of prejudicial articles/materials were published by Sahara Reporters Inc. which were adverse against him, disparaged his reputation via its online internet platform and broadcast.
He noted  that materials were was also on the internet via the Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other similar Social Media platforms where same could be viewed and assessed by the whole world and further shared and/or disseminated virally without restraint.
Malami noted in particular that on July 10, 11 and 12, Sahara Reporters, in what appears like a coordinated attack, viciously wrote and maliciously published libelous and criminally defamatory articles against his person.
The Minister said it is pertinent to note that the publications were untrue, fabrications and mere figments of the imaginations of Sahara Reporters and are unsupported howsoever.
“Since the  defamatory articles were published, I have been receiving several telephone calls and visits from well-meaning Nigerians, friends, well-wishers and associates from all over the world including those I have dealt with and am still dealing with in my official capacity as Nigeria’s Chief Law Officer, many of whom have expressed serious concerns over the publication”.
He said that the publication of malicious libel and criminal defamation against him by Sahara Reporters was with a view to disparaging him in the eyes of right thinking persons, contrary to the Nigerian Criminal and Penal Laws .
This, he said was a gross violation of his Right to the Dignity of the Human Person as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended).
Meanwhile, the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu has asked the Justice Ayo Salami-led Presidential Panel to investigate the alleged sale of recovered assets by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

According to Magu, the AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had no constitutional authority to approve the auction of recovered assets which he said was the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

It would be recalled that the AGF had reportedly granted two separate approvals to an auctioneer to conduct an open bid for sale of crude oil and diesel as well as five vessels forfeited by illegal bunkering operators to the government.
But Magu, who spoke through his lawyer, Tosin Ojaomo on Saturday, contended that the justice minister had no power under section 174 of the 1999 Constitution to dabble into assets management, adding that the law only empowers him to institute and undertake criminal proceedings.
Magu’s lawyer also attributed his client’s travails to detractors who he said were not comfortable with the fact that he (Magu) was remitting money directly to the Federal Government coffers.
Asked if he was demanding the probe of the AGF for alleged involvement in the sale of recovered property, the lawyer stated, “Yes, I’m calling for that; I’m calling for a probe of the AGF. Ladidi Mohammed, head of assets recovery management in the office of the AGF should be brought to the panel to tell Nigerians how much they have managed in terms of assets.
“On what grounds is the AGF appointing contractors to conduct open bid? You can see that there is a question mark on the company appointed to conduct the auction. There is one Omoh-Jay Nigeria. There is a moral burden. The same person was tried by the EFCC, the same firm was now being picked to sell the assets recovered by the EFCC.”
Malami has however explained his role in the alleged auction of the vessels by a firm, Omoh-Jay Nigeria Limited.
In a statement, he described reports in two media outfits over the weekend as maliciously concocted.
He adds: ‘Omoh Jay Nig Ltd was granted approval vide Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) letter DPR/DSM/ROM/OPS/COL 2/285 dated 11th August, 2009 to evacuate the products onboard of MT AKUADA and MT HOPE. That was four years before the coming of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government and long before Malami was appointed as the Attorney General of the Federation.
“EFCC filed a motion dated 8th June, 2009 but filed on 11th June, 2009 in Suit No. FHC/B/130C/08 held at Court 1, ikpoba hill, Benin City before Hon. Justice Chukwura Nnamani praying for the following orders:
i. An ORDER vesting custody of the vessel with contents on the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN);
ii. An ORDER forfeiting the vessel MT AKUADA used in conveying bunkered 12, 000 metric tonnes of crude oil seized to FRN; and
iii. An ORDER forfeiting the bunkered 12, 000 to FRN.
NOTE: The Motion was struck out on 23rd October, 2009
“Also note that Omoh Jay Nig. Ltd filed Suit No FHC/L/CS/652/2018 against EFCC and 4 ors on 11th September, 2018 at Lagos Judicial Division before Hon. Justice M.S Hassan praying for an ORDER directing the EFCC to unfreeze its account at Zenith Bank as it unlawfully and illegally connived to freeze the account without a valid court order.
“The EFCC did not file a Counter Affidavit or any written agreement.
“On 13th May, 2019, Hon. Justice M.S Hassan granted the prayer of Omoh Jay Nig Ltd.
“The OHAGF confirms that following the president directive to clear territorial waters and highways of obsolete and unauthorized vessels, barges, ships, boats, trucks vehicles amongst others, it obtained Final Forfeiture Orders dated 16th January, 2018 and 15th April, 2019 from the Federal High Court on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria in Suit N0 FHC/ABJ/CS/741/2017, FHC/ABJ/CS/742/2017 and FHC/ABJ/CS/237/2019.
“Based on the advice of the Office of the National Security Adviser which is predicated upon the risk being posed by the drifting vessel MT ANUKET containing crude oil at Elegushi Beach and on the basis of the expertise and experience of Omoh Jay Nigeria Limited in the disposal of the content of AKUADA and MT HOPE when engaged by the Department of Petroleum Resources dated 11th August, 2009. The OHAGF engaged their vide letter dated 9th September, 2019 to conduct an Open Bid Sale for the following vessels:
a. MT ASTERIS with Crude Oil;
b. MV PSV DERBY with Automated Gas Oil (AGO);
c. MV ZAHRA with Automated Gas Oil (AGO);
d. MT PEACE; and
e. MT ANUKET EMERALD.
“The only involvement of Omoh Jay Nigeria Limited as far as the documents before the OHAGF is the baseless freezing of Omoh Jay Nigeria Limited account as a fall out in the case lost by the EFCC on MT AKUADA and MT HOPE and even at that, the Federal High Court, Lagos Division has struck out motion brought against Omoh Jay Nigeria Limited as stated above.
“It is worthy to mention that the disposal of the vessels were done following the final forfeiture obtained by the OHAGF and the Presidential Directive of 25th October, 2018 directing the OHAGF to put in the interim before the passage of the Proceeds of Crime Bill, appropriate transitional arrangements for the management and expeditious disposal of the realizable assets so as to preserve their economic value.
“Therefore, as far as the question of criminality of Omoh Jay Nigeria Ltd is concerned, it is not before the OHAGF and for avoidance of doubt, it should be noted that the disposed of the vessels under reference were conducted with due process following a report submitted by the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing on the value of these assets.
“It should be further noted that Omoh Jay Nigeria Limited is one amongst the Thirty-Eight (38) auctioneers appointed by the OHAGF after being selected during the opening of the pre-qualification Bid.
“The disposal of the vessels was also done following Final Forfeiture Order obtained by the OHAGF and recovered monies are paid into the FGN Recovery Account.
“As at date, the recovered monies for the sale of MT Asteris with Crude Oil and content in MT Anuket Emerald has been paid into the FGN Asset Recovery Account domiciled at CBN.
“The process that lead to the purported auction in contention had its antecedence in a letter reference number (DPR/DSM/ROM/OPS/V.2/285) dated 11th August, 2009 from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources titled “Re: Update on the status of vessels arrested for illegal bunkering – MT Akauda and MT HOPE” by which the Chief of Naval Staff was notified thus;
“Considering the deteriorating state of the vessels as evidenced by frequent ingress of water into the tanks, which threatens the environment as expressed in your letter referenced above, and in order to avoid possible spillage from the vessels and consequent environmental pollution, we wish to state clearly that we do not have any objection with the evacuation of the vessels”.
“Evidenced by the above correspondence, it is only reasonable and logical to conclude that the process of the Auction as its relates to the vessel was at the multi-institutional instance out of environmental concerns and the process that ensued eventually entertained public expression of interest on account of which Omoh-Jay Nigeria Limited is one.
“In tune and in line with the presumption of innocence, eligibility of the company as a legal entity Omoh-Jay Nigeria Limited was profiled, considered and allocated vessels that were available for disposals.
“I make bold to state that Omoh-Jay Nigeria Limited was in no way known, associated or related to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, either in his official or personal capacities.
“The issue of interest to the public, of which a serious journalist need to support the general public to know is whether Omoh-Jay being a duly registered company can be denied opportunity to participate in the auction bidding process on a purported account that the company is standing trial (NOT CONVICTED) by a competent court of the land if indeed as claimed by Sahara reporters, the Company is being criminally tried.
“The position of the law is clear by virtue of Section 36 (5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) that a person is presumed innocent until the contrary is proved. “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until proved guilty”.
“Assuming, without conceding that Omo-Jay is being tried for criminal offence, if indeed any, does that take away the Constitutional presumption of innocence in their eligibility to apply and be considered for auction?
“To my mind, the point of interest to the public are:
Whether:-
a. Omo-Jay is in any way connected with Malami by way of fronting for him.
b. Malami is sharing the proceeds of the sale,
c. Or, in any way benefiting in the transaction.
“If the allegation is that of breach of process and procedures of disposal of assets, Sahara Reporters need to clearly state which processes and procedures were breached? Sahara Reporters is challenged to come out with answers.
▪︎ Additional reports NAN and Track News