A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and preside over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami.
Justice Abdulmalik held that that Malami failed to rebut the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired through unlawful activities, thus granted the application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the final forfeiture of the listed properties.
Before delivering the substantive judgment, Justice Abdulmalik dismissed several applications, motions on notice and applications to show cause filed by the former AGF, Malami, his family members and some companies linked to the properties, describing them as “wanting in merit”.
Justice Abdulmalik held that the issue before the court was not “who owns the property, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire the properties”.
The trial judge held that the respondents did not dislodge the reasonable suspicion that the properties were acquired by unlawful activities, thus relied principally on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, and granted the final forfeiture order.
Justice Abdulmalik however, vacated the interim forfeiture order in respect of some other properties of Malami.
The EFCC had instituted the civil forfeiture proceedings in January 2026, seeking the permanent forfeiture of 57 properties valued at N212.8 billion, which it alleged were proceeds of unlawful activities linked to former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
On 16 January, during the Federal High Court’s annual vacation, Justice Emeka Nwite, who was the vacation judge, granted an interim forfeiture order on the properties and directed the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper for anyone with an interest in the assets to appear before the court and show cause why they should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
The properties are located in Abuja, Kano, Kebbi and Kaduna states.
Following the publication, the former AGF, Malami, his wife, Nana Hadiza Malami, his son, Abdulaziz Abubakar Malami, and several companies linked to the properties filed objections and urged the court to dismiss the EFCC’s application and set aside the interim forfeiture order, arguing that it was wrongly granted.
They further argued that the properties were lawfully acquired and that the EFCC failed to establish any connection between the assets and any unlawful activity.
The respondents also argued that the EFCC relied on speculation rather than credible evidence and stressed that the commission neither proved that the properties were proceeds of crime nor identified any specific criminal offence from which the assets were derived.
Following the resumption from the Court’s annual vacation, the case was reassigned to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik for hearing and determination.
At the hearing, the EFCC maintained that its investigation showed that the properties were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities held in the names of individuals and companies acting as fronts for Malami, thus urged the court to make the interim forfeiture order final.
The anti-graft agency told the court that under the law, it only needed to establish “reasonable suspicion” and not prove its case “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Both the prosecution and defence adopted their final written addresses in late May, following which Justice Abdulmalik reserved judgment.
The court initially fixed July 6, 2026, for judgment, but later postponed the date twice before finally delivering its ruling on Wednesday.
