Waiting for Nigeria’s new Attorney-General

GENERAL Muhammadu Buhari may be said to have achieved all anybody will ordinarily aspire to attain professionally and politically. But, at 72, his life, in a very real sense, is just about to begin. Battered, stumbling hopelessly sometimes, jailed and released only when his spirit was thought dead and considered to be not a threat to the political ambition of many compatriots, yet unequalled. As if Robert Rhodes James had him in mind when he wrote in a brilliant study, “Of all the political qualities, persistence is perhaps the most admirable, and among the most difficult.

To persist in a political career that appears to others, and even on occasion to the politician himself as finished, demands exceptional strength of character.” James’ essay, of course, was about the heroic figure of 20th century British politician, Winston Churchill, the public school failure who had only been good enough for a commission in a cavalry regiment, at once backward and precocious, reading books beyond his years and yet at the bottom of his class but became a legend in his lifetime.

In about two weeks, on May 29, Gen. Buhari will take oath as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. But before then, we should have an insight into the kind of people who will help him to fulfill his ambition visualized in his image as an incorruptible, a man of integrity.

Section 148(1) of the Constitution gives the president the discretion to “…assign to the Vice-President or any minister of the Government responsibility for any business of the Government, including the administration of any department of government.”

In exercising this discretion, GMB will give us an insight into the kind of government he intends to run going by the antecedents of the appointees. After all, it is always said: Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.

One of the high profile appointments is that of the Attorney-General of the Federation. The duties of the AGF are clearly stated in Section 174 (1) (a) (b) and (c) of the constitution. Section 174 (3) enjoins the AGF, in exercising his powers, to have regard for public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process. As the Chief Law Officer of state and Chief Legal Adviser to the president, this is one portfolio requiring integrity.

It is no more news that in contemporary Nigeria, court judgments are obeyed selectively. An Attorney-General worth his salt should be able to stop the level of impunity or lawlessness in the country. The other time, the Inspector-General of Police told the whole world that he didn’t recognize the Speaker of the House of Representatives, an opinion borne out of political influence.

The AGF seemed to have agreed with him, as he offered no contrary opinion. More examples: The former governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, escaped to Nigeria from London only to be granted presidential pardon followed later by the grant of national honours. The reckless use of nolle prosequi by the Attorney-General to stay proceedings in criminal prosecution of politically correct politicians is nothing short of encouragement of corruption.

A situation where the Attorney-General looks the other way while policemen of all ranks and file commit criminal activity, including extra-judicial killings almost on a daily basis and at almost all police stations, has become an embarrassment to the country in the comity of civilized nations. The AGF being awaited should be a man of principle not just a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Under the presidency of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, statutory allocations to Lagos State were illegally withheld.

When challenged in court by the Lagos State Government, the AGF defended the illegal and unconstitutional action. Under the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, at a time when the President to all intents and purposes was clinically dead, the AGF told the nation that the President could rule from wherever he was, hospital or the grave – literally, etc.

The AGF should know when the President is acting illegally and make it clear to him, in private though, that he would not spend the resources of the state to defend such actions and of course, be ready to resign his appointment if need be. Let me explain further.

The fact that the Vice-President-elect, Yemi Osinbajo, is a Professor of Law, respected among peers, legend among law students at the Lagos State University in the mid-1990s, and admired for his integrity and humility, does not mitigate the need to search for an attorney general who is not only a legal practitioner, as usual, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, but who is also a great moral leader ensuring the observance and application of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy as enunciated in Chapter 11 of the Constitution.

This country needs an AGF who will recognize and use his office to respect the sanctity of the human person and dignity at all times. Judging by his achievements in terms of reforms he introduced as Attorney General of Lagos State, if at the end of their first term in office, Osinbajo’s impact is not felt from Abuja to Maiduguri, from Enugu to Yola, then the country is doomed to failure. There is a lot the AGF can do to reduce the level of corruption in the judiciary.

It is becoming an embarrassment and whoever is appointed the AGF must come to the office with reforms. Above all, he must be humane. A situation where those who steal petty things because of hunger are quickly sent to jail in our law courts, whereas those who steal billions of naira have their cases adjourned from time to time until they are quietly struck out, must end.

The new AGF must initiate constitutional amendment to facilitate the process for decentralization of the Supreme Court. There is no justice where a litigant spends time and money while his case remains on the court list for up to 20 years.

•Odunwo, lawyer, lives in Lagos. Here is an example of how a principled attorney general should carry out his responsibility to his country. When a former United States President Richard Nixon was facing the Watergate scandal which ultimately consumed his administration, leading to his resignation, three Attorneys- General were appointed same day because one after the other, they refused to carry out the president’s directives which they considered not in the interest of America.

It all started in April 1973 when Nixon sacked his AGF, Richard G. Kleindienst, who had presided over the first discredited investigation into Watergate. Kleindienst later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge – failing to provide full information to a Senate sentence and a suspended fine of one hundred dollars. He was succeeded by Elliot L. Richardson.

On his appointment, Richardson in turn appointed his Harvard Law Professor, Archibald Cox, as special prosecutor to handle Watergate. Barely six months into his appointment, Nixon wanted Prof. Cox fired by the AGF who refused the directive.

“Elliot,” Nixon pleaded, “I’m sorry you feel that you have to act on your commitment to (Prof.) Cox and his independence, and not the larger public interest.” The Attorney-General replied hotly in a flash of anger, “Mr. President, maybe your perception and my perception of the public interest differ.”

That was it, he resigned. Hours later on that same day, Deputy Attorney-General William D. Ruckelshaus was made Acting AGF. Nixon’s Chief of staff, Gen. Alexander Haig phoned him. “As you probably know, Elliot Richardson feels he cannot execute the orders of the president (to fire Prof. Cox.”) “That is right, I know that.” “Are you prepared to do so?” “No.” “Well, you know what it means when an order comes down from the commander-in-chief and a member of his team cannot execute it.” “That’s right.” He resigned.

The task of carrying out the President’s order fell on Robert H. Bork, the third-in-command at the U.S Justice Department who signed a two-paragraph letter firing Prof. Cox. At the end of the day, the long wait for the incoming AGF will be worth it if we have a legal practitioner, whether small or big, man or woman, at the forefront of righteous causes and towering above the rest of us in the defence of human rights. •Odunwo, lawyer, lives in Lagos.