Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the interim forfeiture of some of his properties seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), offering details of his income and assets during his eight-year tenure in office.
Malami, who served under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2023, is contesting an interim forfeiture order granted on January 6 by Justice Emeka Nwite. The judge ordered the temporary forfeiture of 57 properties suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
The properties were allegedly linked to Malami and two of his sons, Abdulaziz Malami and Abiru Rahman Malami. Granting the EFCC’s ex parte application, Justice Nwite held that the assets were reasonably suspected to have been acquired through unlawful means and should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government. He further directed the anti-graft agency to publish the order in a national daily, inviting interested parties to show cause within 14 days why a final forfeiture order should not be made.
However, in a motion on notice filed on January 27, Malami, through his counsel led by Joseph Daudu (SAN), accused the EFCC of suppressing material facts and misrepresenting information to obtain the interim order.
Malami urged the court to dismiss the suit, warning against what he described as “conflicting outcomes and duplicative litigation,” and argued that the proceedings violated his constitutional rights to property, presumption of innocence and family life.
In the application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/20/2026, the former AGF specifically challenged the forfeiture of three properties listed as items 9, 18 and 48 in the EFCC’s application. The properties include Plot 157, Lamido Crescent, Nasarawa GRA, Kano, purchased on July 31, 2019; a four-bedroom duplex with boys’ quarters at No. 12, Yalinga Street, off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, acquired in October 2018 for N150 million; and the ADC Kadi Malami Foundation Building, purchased for N56 million.
Malami is asking the court to set aside the interim forfeiture order as it affects the three properties and to restrain the EFCC from interfering with his ownership and control of them. He also contends that one of the properties is held in trust for the estate of his late father, Kadi Malami.
In a 14-ground argument, Daudu said the properties were not linked by any prima facie evidence to unlawful activity or a specific offence. He noted that two of the properties were duly declared in Malami’s asset declaration forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in 2019 and 2023.
“These assets, their value and their root of title have been clearly stated and specifically demonstrated in the various asset declaration forms spanning from 2019 to 2023,” Daudu said.
The senior advocate listed Malami’s declared sources of income to include N374.63 million from salaries, estacodes, severance allowances and other official earnings; sitting allowances from memberships of bodies such as the Federal Judicial Service Commission, the FCT Judicial Service Commission and the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee; N574.07 million from disposed assets; N10.02 billion in business turnover; N2.52 billion in loans to businesses; and N958 million received as traditional gifts from personal friends.
Daudu also disclosed that Malami earned N509.88 million from the public presentation and launch of his book, Contemporary Issues on Nigerian Law and Practice, Thorny Terrains in Traversing the Nigerian Justice Sector: My Travails and Triumphs.
“These streams of income and the continuing profits generated from the businesses sufficiently show that the properties sought to be forfeited were acquired through legitimate and lawful means,” he said, adding that the interim order was obtained through “suppression of material facts and misrepresentation.”
The case did not proceed on January 27 as it was not listed on the court’s cause list. The matter had been handled during the court’s vacation, and the presiding judge returned the file to the Chief Judge for reassignment after concluding vacation matters. Several lawyers were also present in court, having filed applications on behalf of other interested parties seeking to halt the final forfeiture proceedings.
Malami is currently facing money laundering charges filed by the EFCC and is also being detained by the Department of State Services (DSS) over a separate allegation relating to terrorism financing.
