Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, has denied being behind spurious lawsuits aimed at scuttling the rescheduled March 28 and April 11, 2015 elections.
Adoke also denied being given the sum of N2 billion from President Goodluck Jonathan to sponsor cases in court to disqualify Major General Muhammadu Buhari fromm the ballot and stop the election from holding on the scheduled dates.
The AGF made the clarification in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant, Mr. Peter Akper, in Abuja on Friday.
The clarifications were made by the AGF in response to an online publication, which had accused him of sponsoring spurious groups with the huge war chest he received from the President to stop Buhari from contesting the election or halt the polls altogether to prevent Jonathan from handing over to the former military ruler.
“I wish to categorically state from my vantage position that these allegations are not only false but are designed to harass, distract and intimidate the Attorney General from discharging his duties.
“Let Nigerians be assured that the Attorney General of the Federation remains committed to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections and within the time frame clearly stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and the Electoral Act, as amended.
“”Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke is very conscious of the ethical and professional demands of his high office and his constitutional responsibility as ‘Guardian’ of the Constitution and has demonstrated this time and again in the discharge of his duties.
“Aware of his place in history and the experiences of his predecessors in office, Mr. Adoke has refrained from partisanship and has not allowed it to becloud his sense of judgment,”the AGF stated.
Adoke said that it was his respect for the laws of Nigeria that he recently withdrew an affidavit secretly deposed to by a lawyer in his office in support of a case filed against the use of card reader and PVC by the INEC and subsequently queried the affected staff for going behind him to file the brief.
He said he regarded the action of the staff as a perverse interpretation of relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act and would not allow him to go unpunished for that act of indiscretion.
It will be recalled that several lawsuits have sprung up in court against the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, and the INEC since the commissioned was advised by security chiefs to shift the polls by six weeks.
While most of the groups have filed suits seeking to stop Buhari from contesting against Jonathan on the grounds that the Nigerian Army had denied possession of his service records including his School Certificate, the others have taken INEC to court asking it to drop the use of card readers and permanent voter cards since they were strange to the Nigerian electoral system.
