By Saminu Ibrahim
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, AbubakarMalami, SAN has written and served to the inspector General of police against MR. OMOYELE SOWORE/SAHARA REPORTERS INC. for alleged Malicious Libel and Criminal defamation against Mr. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN.
A Statement from Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation andMinister of Justice signed by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, SpecialAssistant on Media and Public Relations said lawyers of Malami, S. I Ameh (SAN) & Co wrote to the Inspector General of Police.
The content of the letter reads in part:“We are the Solicitors to Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN (hereinafterreferred to as Mr. Malami/our Client), a foremost and successful legalpractitioner, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and the current Chief LawOfficer of the Federation cum Attorney General of the Federation andMinister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
1. For the records Sir, Mr. Malami is a second-term Attorney Generalof the Federation and Minister of Justice who has been returned due tohis exemplar leadership of the Anti-Corruption program of theadministration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Under the supervision ofMr. Malami as Attorney General, the extant National Anti-CorruptionStrategy was conceived, designed, approved by the Federal ExecutiveCouncil and is currently being implemented. Mr. Malami’sre-appointment as Attorney General is first of its kind, and to ourmind, a testimony of his unparalleled performance in Office,especially in driving the Anti-Corruption agenda of the Governmentamong others.
2. Mr. Omoyele Sowore is the publisher of an online Media outfit-Sahara Reporters Inc., a company based in New York, USA but broadcastsnews and other information on the internet via the Facebook, Twitter,WhatsApp and other similar Social Media Platforms where same could beviewed and assessed by the whole world and further shared and/ordisseminated virally without restraint.
3. On the 10th, 11th and 12th of July 2020, Mr. Sowore/SaharaReporters, in what appears like a coordinated attack, viciously interalia wrote and maliciously published.
4. In sum, the libelous publications contained direct allegations andinuendos … Notwithstanding that the stories untrue and false; Mr.Sowore/Sahara Reporters published the defamatory articles in issuemala fide, with intention to ridicule our Client before the wholeworld.
5. Our Client has since the 10th of July 2020 when the maliciouscriminal libel were first published, received and still receivesseveral telephone calls and visits from well-meaning Nigerians, hisfriends, well-wishers and associates from all over the world includingthose he has dealt with/still dealing with in his Official Capacity asNigeria’s Chief Law Office many of whom have expressed seriousconcerns as to his alleged conducts as reported by Sahara Reporters.
6. The criminal libel published against our Client by Mr.Sowore/Sahara Reporters was calculated to disparage our Client who isa responsible citizen, foremost Legal Practitioner, Senior Advocate ofNigeria and the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation andMinister of Justice, in order to bring him into hatred, ridicule,odium and contempt before a large number of Nigerian citizens in theirmillions and others worldwide and to lower his estimation in the eyesof right thinking persons.
7. “The Inspector General may also note that, as it is their custom,Mr. Sowore/Sahara Reporters are in the habit of publishing libelousarticles against innocent Nigerians- most of which has turned out tobe false, and had published similar libelous article against ourClient in the past which led to the institution of a defamation suitagainst…. Sample fake publications earlier published by Mr.Sowore/Sahara Reporters which can be assessed at saharareporters.comare attached herewith as Annexure for ease of reference.
8. Sir, in the premise of the foregoing and given that the publicationof malicious libel and criminal defamation published against ourClient by Mr. Sowore/Sahara Reporters was with a view to disparage himin the eyes of right thinking persons, contrary to Nigerian Criminaland Penal Laws and a gross violation of our Client’s Right to Dignityof Human Person as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of theFederal Republic of Nigeria (As amended), we hereby humbly appealthat you use your good offices to investigate the criminal actsperpetrated by Mr. Sowore/Sahara Reporters as implicated in this Petition so that the Law can take its course against anyone foundculpable. Our Client deserves justice!Similarly, the Attorney-General of the Federation has written andserved the publishers of Sahara Reporters. The letter was titledRE: PUBLICATIONS OF MALICIOUS LIBEL AND CRIMINAL DEFAMATION AGAINSTMR. ABUBAKAR MALAMI, SAN BY SAHARA REPORTERS INC.
“In the premise of the foregoing and given that the publication ofmalicious libel and criminal defamation published against our Clientby Sahara Reporters was with a view to disparage him in the eyes ofright thinking persons, contrary to Nigerian Criminal and Penal Lawsand a gross violation of our Client’s Right to Dignity of Human Personas guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic ofNigeria (As amended), TAKE NOTICE that you are hereby issued a -7day ultimatum to retract all the libelous and criminally defamatorypublications, and cause to be issued a public apology to be publishedon your platform and on the front page of three Newspapers withNationwide circulation for three consecutive days failing which weshall be left with no other option than to allow the Law to take itscourse against your organization”.
