By joshua 
Uzo Nwogu
International bodies, including civil society organisations, have petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), over perceived approval by his office of an alleged cyberstalking indictment of Mr Olanrewaju Suraju.
Suraju is the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) Resource Centre, an anti-corruption organisation.
The groups expressed grave concern by the possible prosecution of Suraju.
The HEDA Chairman was accused of circulating documents implicating an alleged associate of the Attorney General in the alleged payment of $1 billion by oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and ENI in return for rights
OPL-245, Nigeria’s most lucrative offshore oil block.
The bodies, according to the letter, argued that not only is a criminal indictment for Suraju’s conduct absurd on its face, the Community Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, whose decisions are binding on Nigeria, has declared the cyberstalking law under which he is being charged a violation of the African Peoples and Human Rights, Charter.
The letter, dated November, 21 2021 was made available to journalists on Monday.
It was signed by Thomas W. Pogge; Leitner Professor of Philosophy, and International Affairs, Yale University; Christian Mounzeo, La Campagneau Congo, Congo-Brazzaville; Dr Robert Rotberg,Vice-Chair, Integrity Initiatives International; Dr. Claudia Escobar, Executive Director, Be Just; Sarah Chayes, Author: Thieves of State: Why Corruption, Threatens Global Security; and Professor Jodi Vittori, Global Politics
and Security Co-Chair, Georgetown University.
Other signatories included, Susan Hawley, Executive Director, Spotlight on Corruption; Frank Vogl, Co-founder, Transparency International, Chairman, Partnership for Transparency Fund, Washington DC, USA; Peter Lipman, Director, Anthropocene Actions CIC; Stanley Achonu, Nigeria Director, The One Campaign; Carly Oboth, Director, Publish What You Say United States; Melissa Fourie, Executive Director, Centre for Environmental Rights; Nicholas Hildyard, Director, The Corner House; Luca Manes, Director, Re:Common; Susanne Breitkopf, Deputy Director Forests Campaign; Simon Taylor, Co-Founder & Director, Global Witness, Environmental Investigation Agency; Tijah Bolton-Akpan, Policy Alert; and Calvin Laing, Member – Publish What You Pay.
It reads: Dear Attorney-General, Abubakar Malami (SAN), “Our attention has been drawn to press reports of an indictment, approved by your office, against Olanrewaju Suraju, chair of the anti-corruption and human rights group HEDA, for alleged cyberstalking.
“As at the time of writing, we are assured that Mr Suraju has neither been served with the indictment (despite its circulation in the press) nor provided with any evidence supporting the charges.
“We note that the indictment alleges offences under the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act.
“We also note that the cyberstalking charges accuse Mr Suraju of having circulated documents that were accepted as evidence by courts in Italy and/or the United Kingdom.”
It added, “We are gravely concerned by the intended prosecution of Mr Suraju.
“It is a fundamental right to report on court proceedings and the use of the Cybercrimes Act to criminalise those who exercise that right is alarming.
“We are also shocked that Nigeria should still be using the Act given the recent ruling by the ECOWAS court that the Act is unconstitutional and must be repealed. For Nigeria to ignore this ruling will send a regrettable signal that the current government does not respect
international treaties to which it is a Party. Indeed, your own office has accepted that the Act needs amending.
“We would therefore urge you to reconsider the indictment of Mr Suraju.
“We will be closely monitoring the progress of the case and will draw our concerns to the attention of our governments and international human rights bodies.
“Please acknowledge receipt and respond to staylor@globalwitness.org
“Yours Sincerely.”
A former Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, one of the people the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting for alleged fraud in connection with the OPL 245 saga, popularly referred to as the Malabu scandal, had petitioned the police and accused some persons of circulating fabricated evidence against him, and to unduly incriminate him.
Adoke stated that an email submitted to a court in Italy was never written by him.
He urged the police to help unravel and prosecute the perpetrators.
It was reported that the police had submitted a case file to Malami, and recommended Suraju’s prosecution for alleged forgery.
It had been reported that the police had said that a report accusing Suraju of peddling falsehood against Adoke, was not fake.
The police in the report had accused Mr Suraju of circulating false information about the former AGF and Minister of Justice, via his organisation’s social media accounts without verifying its authenticity.
The police also alleged that HEDA, an anti-corruption organisation, headed by Suraju was not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
But HEDA’s officials had maintained and publicly displayed evidence that HEDA was registered with CAC.