Pa Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural organization Afenifere, has chastised Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, for his remarks on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, IgbereTV reports.
According to Naija News, Malami stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s rejection of the bill spared the country from a crisis, and that his love for Nigerians motivated him to reject the bill.
According to the minister, if Buhari had signed the bill, it would have sparked a new political crisis, which would have resulted in lawsuits.
Adebanjo reacted by calling the words attributed to Malami “unfortunate,” accusing the minister of deceiving President Buhari.
“It is so unfortunate that many people are misleading Buhari. We pray God to get rid of him before he ruins this country. For heaven’s sake, why would a young lawyer sound like that in a time like this?” he said.
Also speaking, Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, said that the statements made by Malami are confusing and unexpected.
He said: “The Attorney-General of the Federation is expected to guide the government rightly. He should not speak in a manner that is confusing.
“When the president withheld his assent to the bill, the impression was not created that there was a clause in the bill that would create a crisis.
“It is expected that the specific areas where the bill is faulty, should be communicated to the National Assembly so that it will be clear to all why the president is not assenting to the bill.
“So, we expected him to clarify this and tell us specifically the aspect of the bill that would have caused crisis so as to know how to address those areas.”