MALAMI AND THE MYSTERIOUS MILLIONS OF A MINISTER
Nigeria is a very difficult country to understand. Too difficult to grasp, or comprehend mentally. One minute a man is poor, the next minute he is rich, stupendously rich. That is one aspect of the Nigerian feature that is incongruous with the provisions of common sense. In Nigeria, financial opportunities avail themselves to those with luck, in a manner that is sometimes in conflict with the general rules of economics, and all the sciences that have relations with production, consumption, and the transfer of wealth. Yes, when it comes to the path of success, especially success relating to wealth creation, Nigeria’s tale is a tell of titillate. Things happen against the rules of logic or common sense. And instead of those that found themselves in such lucky positions to be meek, some tend to be cocky, brash or out rightly arrogant.
A video clip is currently circulating in the social media, showing with glamour, one Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami, walking with swagger, as the commentator introduced him, alongside his multitudes of portfolios. According to the commentator, Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami is the Group Managing Director of Rayhaan group, a Nigerian conglomerate with interests in hospitality, communications, agriculture, education, security, real estate and rice milling.
Speaking further, he said, Rayhaan is one of the largest private companies in Nigeria. The only family owned conglomerate that is making its mark in the Nigerian market, through its various subsidiaries with over 2000 staff. Multitude of companies, with huge asset base, were listed as part of the Rayhaan group. And in all, Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami was mentioned as the boss.
In conclusion, the commentator said, Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami is 29 years old, and the one managing one of Nigeria’s largest private companies. According to him, his total managing assets make him the third richest young Nigerian. Third richest? Good God! Now who is this Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami?
No amount of search on the internet would reveal anything meaningful, with regards the antecedents of this young and extremely rich Abdulazeez. There is nothing to his name with regards the trajectory of the abundance of such valuable possessions. Nothing. The only thing I found in his profile, is that he is a lawyer. A barrister, whose address is along Sani Abacha Road, Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State, Nigeria. That’s all. His only qualifier, and the opportunity of approaching this stupendous wealth is that, he is the son of Abubakar Malami, SAN, the immediate past Attorney General and Nigeria’s minister of Justice.
There is an adage in my native hausa that says, “Dare d’aya Allah kanyi Bature”. Which literally means, the white man was created overnight by God. Yes, created overnight by God, and there is nothing, we, whom he created black can do. Indeed God is all-powerful-omnipotent.
However, in Commerce and Economics, there is a reversed mentality. Wealth creation has a procedure, which must be followed before the arrival at the doorstep of success. One cannot create wealth from no where. Your source of money must be traced and scrutinized. You have to invest your savings to create a parallel stream of income. This process of investing your saved money to grow your wealth by choosing investments that align with your financial goals is called wealth creation. As far as the records are concerned, young Abdulazeez was unheard of, prior to 2015, when his father, Abubakar Malami became minister. Where did he get that kind of wealth?
Also, as far as the records are concerned, even his father, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who was appointed minister while working as a struggling lawyer in Kano, hasn’t the financial standing of a recognized businessman. At least by the standard of Kano, Nigeria’s oldest commercial centre and home to the two richest men in Africa- Aliko Dangote and Abdulsamad Rabiu.
These two financial giants of Africa, Dangote and BUA, as they are popularly called, have a long family history of success in trade. They also have children that have been undergoing training on trade. Yet, none of their children has come out to flaunt such wealth. There must be a mystery. And the best way to unravel that mystery is to invite Abdulazeez’s father, that is Abubakar Malami, SAN, who was Nigeria’s Attorney-General under Buhari.
As Attorney-General, he was in-charge of the Ministry of Justice and has responsibility for the various departments and agencies of the Ministry. At some point, he took over the oversight of the EFCC, wherein he brought his relation, some even say his nephew, Abdulrasheed Bawa, as chairman. He was in charge of Public Prosecutions, Administrator-General & Public Trustee. In short, Malami was more like the Advisor-General to the Buhari administration, the administration that was admired, because of its stance against corruption. How come he was able to sire such a wealthy boy or boys, without the country hearing about them, until shortly after he left office?
Those interested in history, the history of clean wealth, would do themselves a lot of good, if they dig deep, into the story of Malami and the mysterious millions of a minister.
FUBARA LOSES AS APPEAL COURT AFFIRMS PRO-WIKE LAWMAKER AS AUTHENTIC SPEAKER OF RIVERS ASSEMBLY
FUBARA LOSES AS APPEAL COURT AFFIRMS PRO-WIKE LAWMAKER AS AUTHENTIC SPEAKER OF RIVERS ASSEMBLY The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, affirmed Hon. Martin Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly. The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, equally validated the Amaewhule-led members of the Assembly as bonafide lawmakers for the state. While dismissing an appeal that was lodged before it by Governor Siminalaye Fubara, the court upheld a judgement the Federal High Court delivered on January 22, which nullified the 2024 budget of Rivers State on the premise that it was not presented before members of the state assembly that were known to the law. According to the appellate court, Fubara, shot himself on the foot when he voluntarily withdrew a counter-affidavit he filed to challenge a legal action the Amaewhule-led lawmakers instituted to be recognised as valid members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. The court held that governor Fubara’s decision to present the 2024 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to only four out of 31 members of the Assembly, amounted to a gross violation of section 91 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It will be recalled that the Rivers State Assembly was fractionalised owing to the frosty relationship between Governor Fubara and his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike. In the heat of the fracas, governor Fubara sidelined the Amaewhule-led 26 members of the House that were loyal to Wike and presented the state’s N800billion 2024 budget before the four lawmakers led by Hon. Edison Ehie who had emerged as a factional Speaker of the Assembly. The Ehie-led faction, which had also declared seats of the Amaewhule-led pro-Wike lawmakers vacant for defecting to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, promptly passed the budget which was quickly assented to by Governor Fubara. Meanwhile, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, both Fubara and Wike signed a peace pact that included the restoration of Amaewhule as the bonafide Speaker of the State Assembly. The factional Speaker, Ehie, who had approached the court and was joined as an interested party in the suit, subsequently withdrew all the processes he filed before the court and equally rescinded both his seat and his membership of the Assembly. Whereas Governor Fubara, in line with terms of the peace deal, withdrew all the processes he filed to challenge the suit, however, the pro-Wike lawmakers only withdrew an impeachment notice they served on him while they declined to terminate their legal action. While deciding the suit, Justice James Omotosho of the high court held that the budget was invalid as it was not properly presented before the Rivers State House of Assembly as required by the law. It held that Governor Fubara acted like a tyrant when he demolished the Rivers State Assembly complex and withheld funds standing to the credit of the legislative house. The court also described as unconstitutional, the redeployment of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Rivers State Assembly by Governor Fubara. Justice Omotosho stressed that the governor lacked the statutory rights to interfere with the operations of the Assembly, adding that he acted in contempt of a subsisting order that barred the parties from taking any steps to overreach the matter that was pending before the court. Besides, the court held that the National Assembly could not take over the legislative affairs of the state in the absence of the preconditions that were listed under section 11 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Consequently, the court, among other things, nullified all actions the Rivers Assembly took without the participation of the Amaewhule-led members of the House, among which included the presentation…