The lead counsel of the All Progressives Congress at the Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, has been assigned the portfolio of Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice by President Bola Tinubu.
Fagbemi was among the ministerial nominees screened by the Senate.
At the Presidential Tribunal, he asked the five-man panel of the court chaired by Justice Haruna Tsammani to declare that Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour party, failed to prove Tinubu’s election was rigged in their separate petitions filed at the tribunal.
He maintained that “no one presented any alternative figure” to dispute the results announced by the INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood.
Fagbemi (64) hails from Ijagbo in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State, North Central.
He graduated with a law degree from the University of Jos, Plateau State in 1984 and was called to the bar in 1985.
He obtained his master’s degree in Law (LLM) in 1987 from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria at age 37 while running his private firm.
As one of the legal luminaries, Fagbemi has appeared in court for several high profile cases.
One of such cases was the election of former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi.
Leading Amaechi’s legal team in 2007, he was able to convince the Supreme Court that his client was the valid winner of the state’s gubernatorial polls at the time.
Becoming Nigeria’s 24th AGF, Lateef will play the huge role as chief law officer to the president and of the federation.
The AGF and Minister of Justice heads the Federal Ministry of Justice which is the legal arm of the Federal Government that brings cases before the judiciary on behalf of the government.
The FMOJ’s purview touches on several agencies of government in the ministry and has different departments responsible for public prosecution, citizens rights, legal drafting among others.
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