The State Security Service (SSS) has arraigned a former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, alongside his son, Abdulaziz Malami, on charges of abetting terrorism financing and illegal possession of firearms.
The duo were arraigned on six counts on Tuesday before judge Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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At Tuesday’s proceedings, the charges were read to Mr Malami and his son, who pleaded not guilty to all the six counts.
Following their plea, prosecuting lawyer C. S. Eze applied for a hearing date.
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He also urged the court to remand the defendants in the custody of the SSS pending further processes.
Lawyer to the defendants, Shuaibu Aruwa, made an oral application for bail, informing the court that the defendants had been in SSS custody for about two weeks.
He further claimed that one of the defendants was brought to court directly from the hospital and appealed to the court to grant bail on compassionate grounds.
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The judge, Ms Abdulmalik, however, directed the defence to file and serve a formal bail application.
The judge subsequently adjourned the matter until 20 February for trial.
In the charges, the federal government alleged that Mr Malami, sometime in November 2022, knowingly abetted terrorism financing by allegedly refusing to prosecute suspected terrorism financiers whose case files were forwarded to his office while he served as Attorney General of the Federation.
The offence is said to be contrary to Section 26(2) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
In another count, the prosecution alleged that Mr Malami and his son engaged in conduct preparatory to an act of terrorism by possessing, without licence, a Sturm Magnum firearm, 16 live cartridges, and 27 expended cartridges at their residence in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, in December 2025.
The defendants were also accused of unlawful possession of the firearm and ammunition, offences punishable under relevant provisions of the Firearms Act.
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Mr Malami is also facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a separate case of N8.7 billion money laundering charges along side his son, Abdulaziz, and wife Asabe Bashir, before another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The former minister also faces a forfeiture proceeding in which 57 landed assets worth N212.8 billion traced to him are currently under the Federal High Court’s interim forfeiture order. EFCC instituted the forfeiture proceeding under a non-conviction-based legal process in December 2025. But Mr Malami has now claimed to have legitimately acquired the assets and urged the court to lift the interim forfeiture placed on them.
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