By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
Abuja
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, has denied that he was behind a suit allegedly seeking to undermine the use of permanent voter cards (PVCs) in the forthcoming general elections and that he opposed efforts by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free and fair elections using an updated electronic voters register and permanent voter cards.
Reacting to a report by the online news medium Sahara Reporters captioned “Nigeria’s Attorney General Files Affidavit to Scuttle Use of PVCs for Elections”, Adoke stated in a press release last night that he was not privy to the suit.
The AGF explained: “Although the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Independent National Electoral Commission are co-defendants in suit No. FHC/ABJ/06/15 instituted by the Society For Advancement & Protection of Public Rights seeking the interpretation of sections 77 (2) and 112 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as well as section 9(5) of the Electoral Act, I wish to categorically state that I was not aware of the contents of the counter-affidavit deposed to by Lawrence Illop and did not authorise it.
“While the deponent (Lawrence Illop), and Messrs Taiwo Abidogun and N.S. Odusola who signed the Written Address in support of the counter-affidavit are staff of the Federal Ministry of Justice, I wish to state that the officers did not avail me the opportunity of perusing or vetting the affidavit and written address before they were filed.”
He admitted that the practice in the ministry is for the AGF to be availed copies of all court processes prepared in reply to suits against the Office and his opinion first has to be obtained especially in sensitive suits such as the one in question before such processes are filed.
“This practice was not adhered to in this instance for reasons best known to the aforementioned officers,” he said, adding, “As head of the ministry, I must take responsibility for their conduct. However, I have directed the processes to be withdrawn forthwith to enable an appropriate response to be filed to the originating summons. I have accordingly caused a query to be issued to the concerned officers.”