This is interesting.
Malami gets appointed as Chairman of
UNIDROIT, private law
for salvaging souls, while facing legal challenges for stealin'.
Very interesting...
The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) has a new Chairman. He is Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
Malami was elected chairman of the 78th session of the General Assembly of the institute.
UNIDROIT is an international organization that seeks to harmonize international private laws across 63 member countries.
According to a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations to the minister, Umar Gwandu, the election took place at the 78th General Assembly meeting held on Thursday, December 12 in Rome, Italy.
The statement added that Malami’s election to chair the Assembly followed the proposal by four counties; South Africa, Egypt, Australia and Spain.
Part of the statement read: “The nomination was unanimously supported by the General Assembly of member states including United State of America, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada.”
Addressing the Assembly as the newly elected Chair, Malami noted that Nigeria has been an active participant member of UNIDROIT since 1964.
The AGF recalled that a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Michael Aondoaka (SAN) was elected for a five-year term (2008-2013) to the UNIDROIT Governing Council.
The minister said with the Nigeria’s advancement in areas such as telecommunication and e-commerce, the country has taken greater interest in the emerging global legal architecture being developed by UNIDROIT.
Malami further pledged his commitment to boosting the activities of UNIDROIT during his tenure as the chairman and work assiduously towards ensuring the “entry into force of the Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on matters specific to Mining, Agriculture and Construction of Equipment (MAC Protocol) the text of which was recently adopted at the diplomatic conference held in Pretoria, South Africa November, 2019”.
“Following extensive consultations with stakeholders on the future Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts”, the Chair said he hoped to see to the “finalization of the draft text for presentation to and adoption by the Governing Council in May, 2020”.
While maintaining his commitment to “entry into force the Luxembourg Rail Protocol, which currently requires only one more Contracting State to enter into force” he said with that Protocol’s entry into force, it could “begin facilitating cross-border and domestic financing of railway rolling stock, thereby generating economic growth, and provide further momentum in attracting more Contracting States to that Protocol”.
For the Institutional development, the chair said he will work vigorously to ensure the adoption and implementation of UNIDROIT’s Work Programme for the 2020-2022 triennium, which he said has great importance in guiding the use of UNIDROIT’s limited resources and determining its various projects and their respective priorities.
The UNIDROIT chairman expressed his determination to ensure full implementation of the recently adopted compensation and social security reforms, together with possible further improvements to the institute’s regulations and its overall administrational framework.
He called on all state parties to work hard in achieving their objectives “The unification of private law is a great task UNIDROIT is saddled with.
“It, therefore, behoves on this session for all hands to be on deck to ensure issues on the agenda are tackled expeditiously. I have no doubt in this endeavor, I can presume your cooperation and assistance throughout this session,” he said.
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The immediate-past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, says he will appear before the disciplinary panel of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee on Friday to face the petitioners seeking the stripping of his Senior Advocate of Nigeria rank for alleged misconduct.
Malami, who confirmed this to The PUNCH on Monday, said apart from the petition filed against him by some family members of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, another one was filed against him by ‘Interstellar’.
He told our correspondent that he had filed his defence.
“Very well. I will appear. I have filed my defence for the two matters in contention – Dasuki’s matter and one other relating to a judgment debt titled ‘Interstellar’,” he said while responding to our correspondent’s inquiry on Monday.
Giving an insight into what the second petition was about, Malami said the petitioner accused him of not doing enough to ensure the payment of its proceeds of a judgment it had obtained.
Some members of Dasuki’s family had petitioned the LPDC, Nigerian Bar Association and other bodies, demanding a disciplinary action be taken against Malami for allegedly endorsing Dasuki’s continued detention.
The petition was sparked by Malami’s comments in the media last year suggesting that Dasuki, despite meeting the latest bail granted him by the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 2, 2018, would not be released from the custody of the Department of State Services on the grounds of national security.
Copies of the petition were sent to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (the body that confers on, suspends and withdraws from lawyers, the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria) and the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (the body saddled with disciplining lawyers for misconduct).
The petitioners prayed that Malami be disciplined, not just as a lawyer but also as a SAN.
The petition dated July 23, 2018 was signed by Dasuki’s son, Abubakar Dasuki, his wife, Hajia Bintu Sambo-Dasuki, and his nephew, Senator Umaru Dahiru.
A copy of the petition read in part, “This petition has been written in order for you to also investigate the propriety of the inflammatory contemptuous and libellous statement made by Abubakar Malami, not only as a lawyer, but also as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Attorney General of the Federation.
“One begins to wonder whether Abubakar Malami (SAN) is fit to be a barrister and solicitor of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, let alone a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and Attorney General of the Federation. While the whole world watches as the rule of law is being trodden upon, we are hopeful the imminent catastrophe can be avoided by your intervention.”
They sought investigations into the statements attributed to Malami.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court in Abuja in her July 2, 2018 judgment granted the ex-NSA bail in the sum of N200m with two sureties in like sum.
The judgment, which described Dasuki’s detention since December 29, 2015 as illegal, was specifically directed at the AGF, DSS and its director-general, who were the defendants.
The LPDC panel has issued a hearing notice signed by the Secretary, the committee, Patricia Orhomuru.
