Minister of Justice Faces N1bn Lawsuit Over Alleged Abuse Of Office
The Federal High Court Abuja has approved the hearing of a suit accusing the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) of abusing his office.
The suit is equally seeking an order to compel the AGF to pay N1 billion as damages to an international businessman and property developer, Cecil Osakwe.
The plaintiff told the court that the AGF, using his office, arm-twisted him to give out two units of three-bedroom flats in one of his properties situated in Mekong Close, Maitama, Abuja to a civil servant, Asabe Waziri.
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Osakwe alleged that Malami forced him to hand the property worth about N130 million to Waziri, against a subsisting order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
The plaintiff told the court that the AGF waded into a civil dispute his firm had with Waziri and used his position to supervise his continuous harassment by security operatives.
Alleging that his fundamental rights were grossly violated, Osakwe said he sued Malami both in his official and personal capacity.
According to the plaintiff, Malami took the action, even though he was aware that the 2nd defendant had initially moved into the said property and stayed for over eight months before she was vacated from it by a lawful court order that terminated the sales transaction between both parties.
Aside praying the court to declare that the AGF engaged in abuse of public office, the plaintiff, urged the court to order him to pay N1bn as damages.
