Abubakar Malami

Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has threatened to sue Sahara Reporters over alleged libelous and defamatory publications against him.

In a statement released by his spokesperson Umar Gwandu on Monday July 13, Malami threatened to sue the news platform if they fail to retract stories published about him on July 10, 11 and 12, 2020.

He added that the reports have caused him considerable distress, psychological trauma and anxiety.

The statement read;

“Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, vowed to take legal action against Sahara Reporters on account of defamatory publications made against him.

“Malami said, the consequence of the criminal defamation published by Sahara Reporters, has subjected him to considerable distress, psychological trauma, anxiety and greatly injured his character and reputation, which is capable of lowering his estimation in the eyes of right-thinking persons in the society.

“He said since the 10th of July 2020 when the defamatory articles was first published, he has been receiving several telephone calls and visits from well-meaning Nigerians, his friends, well-wishers and associates from all over the world including those he has dealt with/still dealing with in his official capacity as Nigeria’s chief law officer, many of whom have expressed serious concerns over the publication.

“Malami gave the medium a seven-day ultimatum to retract all the libellous and criminally defamatory publications against him and issue a public apology to be published on the platform and on the front pages of three national newspapers for three consecutive days.

“A senior lawyer has already been briefed to deal with the matter as may be appropriate, in the event of failure to retract the publication in question and offer the requested apology within the stipulated time.”