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By Fortune Eromosele, Abuja

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s international anti-corruption day, a group, Higher Education Leadership and Policy, HELP, project, has endorsed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN as a crusader against corruption.

The group in a statement signed by the Chief Executive of HELP, Ayodele Thomas, countersigned Malami as the anti-corruption crusader of the year within the six years of his office as the Attorney General.

The statement reads: “Abubakar Malami, SAN, is Anti-corruption Crusader of the Year Within six years, the Buhari administration has, no doubt, won the admiration, respect and regarded in high esteem by many concerned citizens for his anti-corruption campaign.

“The Attorney General of the Federation and Hon. Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN stands out in the fight against corruption. Since his assumption of office, Malami left no stone unturned to ensure robust momentum of capacities is built around the administration’s anticorruption policy.

“Since he assumed office, Malami has made several headlines with his hard stance on pursuing looted or stolen funds and bringing the culprits to justice in addition to building robust momentum of regulatory, institutional and legal capacities around the Anticorruption policy of the Buhari administration.

“It is on record that no other administration, in the history of Nigeria, has closely worked with the US, the UK, and various Middle Eastern countries to seize and repatriate assets from public officials that are suspected to have been purchased with illicit funds. Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has also become more active.

“It has launched a series of investigations into former high-ranking public officials from previous administrations, in particular former cabinet officials, state governors and senior civil. It is also on record that under Malami looted funds and assets have been recovered and several high-level officials have been found culpable in one corruption case or another by anti-graft agencies.

“Again, one cannot also doubt the fact that under Malami the administration brought his fight against corruption closer to home when he dealt with his own officials without favour.

“The arraignment of Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation and Ayo Oke, head of Nigeria’s National Intelligence Agency fingered in the quagmire of controversy around corrupt deals detected by Nigeria’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] are examples of such efforts.”

Vanguard News Nigeria