Abubakar Malami
The detention of Abubakar Malami, SAN, former Attorney-General of the Federation by the EFCC is Yoruba persecution of a northerner, writes Bello Abdullahi
Justice abandoned its seat the moment silence became the official statement.
Abubakar Malami, SAN, former Attorney-General of the Federation, is in custody, yet the nation is fed only whispers and selective leaks. The EFCC, tasked with truth, hides behind the media, while TVC, The Nation, and The Cable, media houses owned by Yoruba individuals, rush to narrate the story in fragments, favoring drama over clarity.
It is impossible to ignore the larger pattern: the EFCC is headed by a Yoruba man; the Minister of Justice, the Inspector-General of Police, and the DSS Director-General are all Yoruba. Malami, by circumstance, is not part of this inner circle. And in this alignment, the machinery of justice has shown its preference, not for fairness, but for convenience.
But the targeting of Malami is no mere coincidence. He is one of the shining lights of the national opposition, a man who refuses to bend, to beg, or to belong to the ruling party’s inner circle. That is why he is being cornered. This is what Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight has become: selective, politicised, and convenient for those in power. Alignment with the ruling party forgives sins; dissent is criminalised. Malami, however, will meet their match. He will not be sacrificed on the altar of political convenience.
Would the Tinubu-led government have the courage to put him in the dock? Perhaps. But let it be known: the Nigerian people are watching, history is watching, and the moral ledger is open. Some things are better left imagined, because the consequences of injustice are rarely contained.
This is not about Malami personally. This is about the health of a democracy that allows power to concentrate along ethnic and institutional lines, while justice is narrated through whispers and speculation. A nation that tolerates this risks turning institutions into instruments of faction, and media into accomplices of silent prejudice.
Silence is not neutrality. It is complicity. It is a conscious decision to let perception, not evidence, define reality.
Malami’s guilt or innocence is irrelevant. What matters is the precedent: that a former Attorney-General can be detained while the agency responsible refuses to issue a formal explanation, and the media acts as echo chamber rather than watchdog. This is a scandal, a moral failure, and a warning to all who dare to oppose power without compromise.
The EFCC must speak.
It must explain.
It must publish the truth in its own voice.
Anything less is not investigation. It is power unchecked. It is recklessness masquerading as law.
Life goes on, yes. But history will remember: silence is not justice, whispers are not law, and cowardice in the corridors of power stains the nation far longer than any single man’s detention.
Let those in power understand this clearly: a nation does not bend forever. Tyranny, even disguised as legality, cannot endure without consequence. Malami is but one man. The principle he represents, integrity, courage, and fearless opposition, is larger than any agency, any media house, or any government.
The reckoning for institutional cowardice is not optional. It is inevitable. And the voices of truth, once awakened, do not slumber.
_Abdullahi, is a public affairs commentator, social critic, and advocate for moral leadership. He writes under the_ _#GaskiyaAlliance platform to promote truth, accountability, and civic courage in Nigerian politics_ .
