By Adesina Soyooye
The Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has accused the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, of questioning the oneness of Nigeria.
Abaribe, also, accused Malami of fanning the embers of ethnicity and divisiveness.
In a statement signed on his behalf by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom, Abaribe said Malami’s disposition towards the banning of open grazing by Southern Governors was frightening.
The Senator was responding to Malami’s assertion that the ban placed on open grazing by Southern Governors when they met in Asaba, Delta State, last week, was illegal.
Malami went on to compare open grazing to the selling of spare parts.
Apparently referring to the Igbo who have a reputation for dealing in Spare parts, Malami said banning open grazing in the South was like banning the sale of Spare parts in the North.
The Attorney General’s position has attracted strong condemnations from different quarters. Tackling him, Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, said that the ban on open grazing in the South would be vigorously implemented in the South, to the letter
In a strongly worded response, Abaribe interrogated Malami’s statement, asking: What’s the correlation between spare parts dealers in a rented shop or designated area and marauding herders destroying farms, killing and raping…?”
Part of Senator Abaribe’s statement reads:
“While the local Bureau de Change” business mostly done by the Fulanis are operating in all parts of Nigeria, why have they not elicited any resentment of other Nigerians?
“It is simply because they live and do their business peacefully without any problem. It is the murderous activities of Fulani herders that have given rise to the current demand for laws that will bring about peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians.
“What’s the correlation between spare parts sellers in a rented shop or government properly designated area and marauding Fulani herders destroying farms, killing and raping thus trampling on people’s private properties and means of livelihood? Such a divisive statement from a top federal government official, infact the Chief legal adviser to the federal government at that, exposes a very dangerous mindset . This disposition has no doubt raised the tension in Nigeria to a frightening level.
“Why should an Attorney general of the federation be so fixated in evoking ethnic/regional fault lines when duty calls for him to be a statesman. It is disheartening that Mr Abubakar Malami has chosen to debase our country. He has indeed questioned Nigeria’s unity. Very unfortunate.”
Abaribe, from Abia State, was the Deputy Governor of Abia State during the Administration of Orji Uzor Kalu, now a Senator.
