The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, over the weekend commended the press for helping to sustain democracy in Nigeria noting that “No government, even in dictatorship, can play or joke with the press.
“Any government that does so could do so at its peril. You’re one of the cardinal pillars in democracy.”
The Minister gave the thumb-up at the Federal Ministry of Justice in while playing host to Journalists under the aegis of National Association of Judicial Correspondents (NAJUC) during interactive session
NAJUC had during the visit raised concerns about seeming anomaly in separation of powers among the three arms of government in the states as well as the near stifling of local governments’ operations by the state governors.
But reacting, the Minister said: “I’ve listened to some of the points you made.
“Let me say this, you mentioned something about separation of powers. I know that there is nowhere in the world where you have a watertight separation of powers. All you do is to maintain your jurisdiction to the benefit of the system, to the benefit of the citizenry, to the benefit of the generality of the people.
“Therefore, where you need to bend, you just have to without compromising.”
The hallmark of the visit was the presentation of a plaque of excellence to the Minister by the association.
The NAJUC Chairman, Mr Kayode Lawal, before the presentation lauded the Minister’s virtue, saying Nigeria needs more people like him in positions of authority as it stride towards greatness.
