How ex president's Attorney General rebelled against him

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempts to deal with ‘perceived enemies,’ were thwarted by his Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke, time and again, according to a new book.

‘On a platter of gold; how Jonathan won and lost Nigeria’ is written by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi who served as Sports Minister under Jonathan until he was given the boot in March 2014, no thanks to his close ties with Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Abdullahi currently earns his keep as spokesperson of the governing APC.

In excerpts made available to Pulse, Abdullahi detailed how Adoke refused to bend the constitution in furtherance of his principal’s agenda.

playMohammed Adoke (Punch)

According to Abdullahi; “There were a number of other issues that led many in the president’s immediate political circle to conclude that Adoke was the reason that President Jonathan failed to act with the required toughness on some issues.

“When in May 2013 the president declared a state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, some of the president’s men, led by Ijaw leader Edwin Clark, had asked him to sack the Governors of those States as part of the emergency measures. Adoke, on the other hand, counselled the president against sacking the Governors, insisting that such action had no constitutional backing. Clark fired back, asking the president to sack Adoke himself.

playChief Edwin Clark (Punch)

“Prominent lawyers and civil society groups promptly weighed in on the side of the minister, and commended him for being a ‘constitutional purist’. They noted that he could easily have allowed the president to act differently, if he were so minded, relying on the precedent set by President Obasanjo in the case of Plateau State and Governor Joshua Dariye in 2004 – a matter concerning which the Supreme Court had declined to make a definite ruling.”

SACKING GOVERNORS

Abdullahi also writes that Adoke strongly advised Jonathan against sacking Governors who had defected to the then opposition APC.

A certain Rotimi Amaechi topped the list of defectors who famously staged a walkout from the Eagle square venue of the PDP convention in 2013.

Others were Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa.

“Some PDP governors had gone to the president and asked that their decamped (defected) colleagues be removed and be replaced by their deputies. Their argument was that those Governors did not contest the elections by themselves but on behalf of the party. They pointed out that this had been determined in the case of Amaechi vs. INEC (in 2007), in which the Supreme Court ruled that it is the party that contests election and not an individual,” Abdullahi wrote.

playRotimi Amaechi (Punch)

“The mandates held by those Governors were therefore held in trust for the PDP and could not be transferred to another party. If a Governor left the party, as the five Governors had done, they ought to leave their mandate behind. Where their deputies did not follow them to APC, those deputies should be sworn in as Governors without delay. Whereas, where the deputy Governors had also decamped, a sole administrator should be appointed. Failure to take these steps would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.

ALSO READ: Ignore Obasanjo at your own peril - Jonathan says

“The president summoned the Attorney General and asked for his opinion. In line with his established character, Adoke told the president that the position being canvassed by the Governors could not withstand the test of the law. The constitution did not grant the president such powers and had spelt out clearly how a Governor could be removed from office. If Jonathan were to act as the Governors were canvassing for, it would amount to an impeachable offence. And that was the end of the matter.”

'USELESS MAN'

Adoke’s resistance to his boss led to then First Lady, Patience Jonathan, handing the nation’s AGF a characteristic tongue lash; in the wake of an election from which her husband emerged second best.

After Buhari was declared winner of the 2015 election, Mrs. Jonathan took Adoke to task and called him a “useless man” for not disqualifying candidate Buhari on the basis of his school certificate, even when he had the powers to do so.

playPatience Jonathan (AFP/File)

The book also states that former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, led those who called on Adoke to issue a fiat; a move that would have led to a private citizen prosecuting Buhari on the basis of a forged certificate and derailing the APC's Aso Rock dreams. 

The move from Mimiko and his camp was to, "at the very least, disrupt the electoral process”.

Writes Abdullahi: “Two days after the election, Adoke had gone to see the president in respect of the appointment of a new Chief Judge for the FCT. While waiting in the outer room, the First Lady walked in. He rose to greet her. But she took one long look at him and hissed: ‘Useless man. You betrayed my husband. Now that he has lost the election, you are happy. It was the same Attorney General that Bayo Ojo used to disqualify Atiku for Obasanjo (in 2007). It was the same office that (Mike) Aondoakaa used to make dead man (Umaru Musa Yar’Adua) to rule Nigeria. But when it comes to my husband, you will be shouting, constitution, constitution.'”

playBolaji Abdullahi (Premium Times)

The military had said it couldn't find Buhari's secondary school certificate but the then presidential candidate of the APC would retrieve his certificate from the Government College, Katsina--a move that cemented his eligibility for the poll.

ALSO READ: New book promises to expose ex president

Abdullahi's ‘On a platter of gold; how Jonathan won and lost Nigeria’ is set for launch on November 30, 2017.

Jonathan and Buhari have taken to bashing themselves in recent times.