The jury is still out on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa (SAN), but there is little doubt that he is indeed the man to watch in the Umaru Yar’Adua-led administration. The chief law officer has been enveloped in an almost continuous cloud of controversy especially in regard to his relations with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Relying on Section 174 of the constitution, Andoakaa sought to bring the prosecutorial powers of the EFCC, ICPC and other law enforcement agencies under his direct control contrary to a reasonable interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment in FGN vs. Osahon, which had made it clear that law enforcement agents can initiate criminal proceedings although the AGF, under Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, and the state attorneys-general, under Section 221, have the powers to discontinue or take over such cases at any stage.
The AGF was also quick to slap down proposals by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for a new naira policy, redenomination, planned for 2008. The policy announcement by the governor of the CBN, Professor Charles Soludo, caught the government unawares, as he pushed at the very limits of the autonomy granted by the CBN Act of 2007. The government was not briefed in advance and was glaringly ill prepared to comment when the media came calling for clarification. The AGF announced the suspension of the plan because the CBN had not obtained the written consent of the President, and Yar’adua also not convinced of the merits of the policy, added that the CBN published the policy proposal “without appropriate regard for the present administration’s insistence on due process and the rule of law.” Many analysts are of the opinion that the governor of the CBN should have tendered his resignation at that moment, facing so public a rebuke.
The AGF’s war of attrition with the EFCC has continued publicly with his intervention in the Orji Kalu case and the letter to counsel for James Ibori (both former Governors) drawing heated attacks from sections of civil society. Chief Gani Fawehinmi who said he was appalled and disturbed by the “negative and unconstitutional role” being played by the AG with regards to the anti-corruption war, noted that since Aondoakaa’s assumption of office on July 26, 2007, he had given the “unmistakable impression” that the crusade against corruption in the country was not in his agenda and that the activities of the institutions engaged in the war against corruption do not have his support.”
Chief Aondoakaa comes to his present position with an interesting history. In his private practice, he has recently been counsel for Chief Audu Ogbeh, former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) accused of embezzling the party funds after he fell out with the former president Obasanjo in his bid to bring sanity to the ruling party. The corruption charges were widely interpreted as an effort by the government to silence yet another high profile critic of executive lawlessness. He also represented George Akume, former governor of Benue State in his travails with the EFCC.
Most pertinent of all is the part he played at the beginning of the former vice president’s challenge of the result of the last presidential election. Alhaji Abubakar Atiku fought a hard legal battle to ensure his participation in the elections and is now challenging the results that produced Yar’adua as President. It is a certainty that all this information was made available to the president before his appointment was settled.
The AGF Aondoakaa is a man of strong opinions and he has declared that he would not be intimidated by the attacks. In remarks at the start of the Federal High Court legal year the he criticised legal practitioners who condemned court decisions on the pages of newspapers. “Once there is a valid decision of a court, the government will obey. It is a dangerous precedent to condemn the decision of a court on the pages of newspapers.” He insisted that “orders of the courts must be obeyed. Even if the order is reckless, I will still obey it, though I will go to a higher court to appeal against it and I will ask for stay”.
On the EFCC he described the invasion of the residence of Chairman of Globacom, Dr. Mike Adenuga, by policemen acting on the orders of the EFCC in the course of an investigation as “a sheer act of intimidation” lacking regard for the rule of law. “If agencies of government are used for political ends, there are bound to be problems. In Adenuga’s case, how do you carry 40 policemen or so to arrest a harmless Nigerian without a court warrant? It is unjust and unconstitutional. It is rascality and a breach of the law to say you will arrest a man before looking for evidence to prosecute. You do not arrest a man before looking for evidence to prosecute him. It is the other way round.”
In the midst of all the controversy it seems that the AGF has the firm support of the Nigerian Bar Association and the ear of the president. It may be that his tenure will witness the beginning of a revolution in the attitude of government with regard to the legality of its actions. For his insistence of on defending the rule of law, he places the government on a higher moral platform than the former regime, a differentiation that Yar’adua has been steadily working to achieve. Lagos based lawyer, Festus Keyamo perhaps sums it up with his comments in support of the AGF.
“All the man has done is to insist on rule of law. Some people feel the era of impunity must continue. He has not withdrawn any charge against anybody. They are just trying to blackmail him”. Keyamo also argued that those who alleged that the anti-corruption war had slowed down were saying so because there have not been indiscriminate arrests since then. “What they consider as ’slow down’ is because they are no longer arresting people indiscriminately. Nobody is arrested with impunity any longer”.
