A court has ordered the final forfeiture of 57 properties allegedly acquired with the proceeds of unlawful activities and linked to the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Justice Joyce Abdulmalik granted the application brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission after holding that the respondent had failed to rebut the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful activities, clearing the way for the assets to be seized permanently.
The properties at the centre of the case are said to be worth more than 212 billion naira, a figure that reflects the scale of the assets the anti-graft agency had moved to seize. The ruling brings to a head a legal battle in which the commission had asked the court to grant a final order permanently stripping the former minister and the other respondents of the properties on the grounds that they represented the proceeds of unlawful activities.
Before delivering the substantive judgment, the judge first cleared away a series of preliminary challenges. She dismissed several applications, motions on notice and applications to show cause that had been filed by Malami, some of his family members and a number of companies linked to the properties. In throwing out those filings, the judge described them as wanting in merit, allowing the main question of forfeiture to proceed to a decision.
In her ruling, the judge made clear that the central issue before the court was not who owns the properties, but rather how legitimate the funds used to acquire them were. That framing shifted the focus away from formal ownership and onto the source of the money, placing the burden on the respondents to show that the assets had been paid for with legitimately obtained funds rather than with proceeds of unlawful activity.
According to the judge, the respondent had not dislodged the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful activities. Having failed to displace that suspicion in the eyes of the court, the assets became liable to be forfeited to the state. The finding effectively accepted the commission's core argument that the properties were tied to funds whose lawful origin could not be established.
The order marks a significant moment in the long-running effort by the anti-graft agency to recover assets it believes were built with illicit funds. The forfeiture of 57 separate properties in a single ruling underscores the unusual scale of the case assembled around a man who once occupied one of the most senior legal offices in the country, and who was responsible for overseeing the justice system he is now being pursued within.
Malami served as Nigeria's Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice before the assets became the focus of the commission's investigation. With the court granting the final forfeiture, the properties are to pass to the state, closing this stage of the commission's pursuit of the assets while the wider scrutiny of the former minister's financial dealings continues to draw close attention across the country.