AGF is not answerable to the senate- Presidency says

Special Assistant to President Buhari on Prosecution attached to the Federal Ministry of Justice, Okoi Obono-Obla, has said the senate lacked constitutional powers to summon the Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Justice of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, over the case of alleged forgery of senate order filed by his office against Senate President Bukola Saraki, his deputy Ike Ekweremadu and two others.


Obono-Obla who represented Malami at the senate public hearing on the alleged forgery case yestrday, told newsmen that Malami had not erred in charging the principal officers of the senate to court.

He said Malami is answerable to President Buhari and not the Senate

“The AG has not done anything wrong. The AG has not undermined democracy. He acted pursuant to his powers vested on him by the Constitution, Section 174 (1) says he can prosecute anybody. And he has done that. The Senate is not on trial. He has not taken the Senate to court. He has taken four persons to court. They are not the Senate. Being President of the Senate does not make you the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The matter was investigated by the police and a prima facie case was established and the AG invoked his powers under Section 174 (1) to initiate criminal proceedings against those persons. And this matter is now before a court of law. There is separation of powers in Nigeria. It is not the position of senators to constitute themselves into a court of law. He’s (AGF) not answerable to them. By virtue of the principle of Separation of Powers, he is answerable to the President who appointed him. And he has not done anything wrong. You cannot be a judge in your own case. We don’t have confidence in the committee.”he said