Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has given a blow-by-blow account of the incidents that led to the arrest of Katsina-born social critic, Mahdi Shehu.
Recall that Shehu was reportedly arrested in Abuja by men of the Nigerian police on Tuesday, a move that prompted a statement from the embattled social critic’s lawyer, who accused Malami of being behind his client’s woes.
But reacting to the statement on the arrest and detention of Shehu in a press release on Thursday, lawyer to Malami, Barr. M. E. Sheriff, described it as untrue and misleading.
“Our attention has been drawn to the above press statement that was made on February 7, 2024 as well as that of 13th January 2021, and we, as solicitors to Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN and his family, noted with grave concern that the press statement is totally not correct, misleading, malicious, and a grossly misrepresentation of the facts leading to the arrest.
“Therefore, we write to set the record straight for the benefit of the public. Without prejudice to the police investigation that is ongoing, the true facts relate to the Complaint/Petition which we wrote to the Inspector General of Police on allegations bothering on extortion, criminal intimidation and attempt to obtain money by false pretence against a syndicate using GSM Numbers and email addresses,” parts of the Malami’s statement read.
According to the statement following ongoing investigation into the complaint by the Police, the sustained communications “between our clients and the syndicates, wherein the syndicate disclosed and gave Room Number 9,” in an hotel located in Maitama Abuja.
“On reaching the hotel and the room number, Mahdi Shehu was found therein at the scene with copies of documents that were used and sent to our client by the syndicate. Some of the documents which the police retrieved from Mahdi Shehu specifically lend credence to yet another petition of our client that bothers on hacking and financial improprieties affecting Hajiya Aisha Abubakar Malami,” the statement said, adding that the the sum of over N19,000,000.00 (Nineteen Million Naira) was unlawfully taken out of Malami’s account.
” The investigation and all the documents recovered thus far are there with the Police for any person that cares to verify what we are saying.
Therefore, we should all encourage, support and allow the police to do their work as it is the outcome of the investigation that can confirm who is culpable and who is innocent; at the moment, if Mahdi Shehu, has any explanation to make regarding the arrest, he should do so to the police but certainly not to the press or embark on campaign of calumny via the social media, ” the statement added.
