Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, has urged the Federal High Court in Abuja to vacate the interim order placed on 57 properties traced to him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Mr Malami, who served as the AGF during the late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, sought two categories of orders lifting the interim forfeiture orders on the seized assets.
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In the first prayer, he urged the court to discharge three particular properties listed by EFCC as No. 9, No. 18 and No. 48 in the ex-parte motion with which the anti-corruption agency obtained the interim forfeiture order.
He said he has always declared two of the assets from 2019 to 2023 to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) as his, and that he holds the third property in trust.
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The second category of prayer sought an order discharging the interim forfeiture order on all 57 properties seized by the EFCC.
One of the three specific assets listed under his first prayer is located at Plot 157, Lamido Crescent, Nasarawa, GRA, Kano, purchased on 31 July 2019. The value of the asset was not stated.
Another is a duplex with boys’ quarters at No.12, Yalinga Street, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse Il, Abuja, purchased in October 2018 at N150 million, and ADC Kadi Malami Foundation Building, bought at N56 million listed as No. 18 and No. 48.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the judge, Emeka Nwite, who sat as vacation judge, had, on 6 January, ordered the temporary forfeiture of 57 properties suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities linked to Mr Malami.
Mr Nwite had granted the order following an ex-parte motion moved by the EFCC’s lawyer, Ekele Iheanacho, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to the effect.
The judge then directed the commission to publish the order in a national daily for interested person(s) to show cause, within 14 days, why all the property should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The multi-billion naira landed properties are located in Abuja, as well as Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna states.
However, in a motion on notice filed on Mr Malami’s behalf by a team of lawyers led by Joseph Daudu, a SAN, the ex-AGF alleged that the anti-corruption agency got the interim order by suppression of material facts and misrepresentation.
Mr Malami urged the court to dismiss the suit to prevent “conflicting outcomes of duplicative litigation,” arguing that the proceeding was an assault on his fundamental right to own property, his presumption of innocence and his right to live in peace with his family.
In the application filed on 27 January through Mr Daudu, Mr Malami urged the court to lift the forfeiture orders on properties listed as Nos. 9, 18, and 48 in the schedule of properties attached to the interim order of forfeiture issued on 6 January, “the said properties having been duly declared in the respondent/applicant’s asset declaration forms throughout his tenure as a public officer and No. 48 is held in trust for the Estate of the late Khadi Malami Nasarawa.”
The only other prayer in the application sought an order restraining the EFCC “from interfering with the respondent/applicant’s (Malami’s) properties in issue or disturbing the respondent/applicant’s ownership, possession and control thereof in the course of purportedly giving effect to the order of this honourable court made on the 6th of January, 2026.”
Grounds of the application
The application is supported by 14 grounds proffered by Mr Daudu, who is a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
He maintained that the assets Nos. 9, 18, and 48, the subject of interim forfeiture, especially those declared in the various asset declaration forms of Mr Malami are not linked by prima facie evidence of an unlawful activity or a specific offence.
He said Mr Malami had declared the assets listed as Nos. 9, and 18 in his asset declaration forms filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Mr Malami assumed office as the AGF in 2015 and left in 2023.
He said property No. 48 is held in trust by the former AGF for the benefit of the estate of his late father, the late Kadi Malami.
“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.
“The declaration above is prima facie evidence of the legitimacy of the acquisition and ownership of the properties,” Mr Daudu wrote.
The senior lawyer submitted that Mr Malami copiously declared his source of income in his asset declaration filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to include N374, 630,900 (million) income from salaries, estacodes, severance allowance and others;
“Sitting allowances as a board/committee member of the Federal Judicial Service Commission, Federal Capital Territory Judicial Service Commission, Legal Practitioner Privileges Committee, and a high-powered presidential committee.
“N574, 073, 000 (five hundred and seventy-four million, and seventy three thousand naira) as income generated through disposed assets;
“N10, 017,382,684 (ten billion, seventeen million, three hundred and eighty-two thousand, six hundred and eighty-four thousand naira) turnover from businesses;
“N2, 522, 000, 000 (two billion, five hundred and twenty-two million naira) being loans to businesses;
“N958,000,000 (nine hundred and fifty-eight million naira) as a traditional gift from personal friends.”
Mr Daudu equally explained that a total sum of N509, 880, 000 (five hundred and nine million, eight hundred and eighty thousand naira) was realised as income from the launch and public presentation of a book titled, ‘Contemporary Issues on Nigerian Law and Practice, Thorny Terrains in Traversing the Nigerian Justice Sector: My Travails and Triumphs’ by Mr Malami.
“These streams of income, and the continuing profits generated from the businesses over the years, sufficiently show that the properties sought to be forfeited were acquired through legitimate and lawful means as stated in the asset declaration forms,” he said.
According to the senior lawyer, the order of interim forfeiture is not based on any prima facie establishment of unlawful purpose and is liable to be set aside.
He submitted that the court wrongly granted the order of interim forfeiture against these properties “which were lawfully acquired post appointment of the respondent/applicant and declared with the Code of Conduct Bureau as legitimate assets of the respondent/applicant, in compliance with the 5th Schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 2019 and 2023.
“The interim order was obtained ex-parte by suppression of material facts and misrepresentation.
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“The interim order for forfeiture was obtained by manifest exaggeration, malicious inflation of the value of the assets, and unreasonable and incompetent valuation deliberately manipulated to mislead the court, negatively affecting its discretion in granting an order based on manipulated facts and conclusions deliberately cooked up by the applicant/respondent (EFCC).
“That there is no prima facie evidence placed before this honourable court by the applicant/respondent (EFCC) to warrant the properties linked to the respondent/applicant (Malami) to be liable for forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“The proper remedy for preventing conflicting outcomes of duplicative litigation is for this honourable court to dismiss or strike out this suit.
“That this proceeding is an assault on the applicant’s fundamental right to property, his presumption of innocence and his right to live in peace with his family,” the counsel submitted.
NAN recalls that Mr Nwite had, on 6 January, adjourned the matter until 27 January for a report of compliance on the publication of the interim order for forfeiture.
But the matter could not go on because the case was not on the cause list for the day. The judge told lawyers who had appeared for the proceedings relating to the case that the matter was heard during vacation, and the vacation period having come to an end, the cases taken during the period had been remitted to the chief judge for re-assignment.
Mr Malami, who is facing money laundering charges preferred against him by EFCC, is currently detained by the State Security Service (SSS) over alleged discovery of arms in his house during a raid by the EFCC. But Mr Malami, through his media aide, had denied having arms in any of his houses or any property linked to him.
He faces the money laundering charges alongside his son, Abdulaziz Malami, and wife, Asabe Bashir.
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