By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has given details of his sources of income in an effort to justify the acquisition of 57 assets valued at N212.8 billion which are currently under an interim forfeiture order of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In a new application filed on January 27 urging the court to lift the interim forfeiture order, Malami listed the values of six sources of income, which sum up to about N14.96 billion.
Malami’s lawyer, Joseph Daudu said: “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.”
Recall that Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered an interim forfeiture of the assets on January 6 at the instance of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
In its application to secure the interim forfeiture order, the EFCC told the judge that the assets were suspected of being acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities linked to Malami.
The anti-graft agency said Malami could never have legitimately owned the properties, largely acquired during his eight years in office as the AGF. It valued the properties located in Abuja as well as Kaduna, Kano, and Kebbi states at N212.8 billion.
The judge ordered EFCC to advertise the order in a daily newspaper to invite anyone interested in the assets to show, within 14 days, why the assets should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.
In his January 27 application to challenge the interim forfeiture order, Malami, through his lawyer accused EFCC of suppressing facts to secure the interim forfeiture order, leading to an alleged violation of his rights to acquire property, his presumption of innocence, and his right to live in peace with his family.
Daudu also proffered 14 grounds to support the application.
The lawyer broke down Malami’s earnings to justify the legitimacy of the acquisition of the assets by the former AGF.
According to Daudu, the six sources of income included Malami’s earnings from salaries, estacodes, severance allowance, and others, during the period he served as the AGF.
He noted that Malami copiously declared his source of income in his asset declaration filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to include N374,630,900 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 as income generated through disposed assets; N10,017,382,684 turnover from businesses; “N2, 522, 000, 000 being loans to businesses; N958,000,000 as a traditional gift from personal friends,” he said.
The lawyer added that a total sum of N509,880,000 was realised as income from the launch and public presentation of his book.
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.
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.
The former AGF, through his lawyer, 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, noting that “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 Nassarawa.”
Malami is facing money laundering charges preferred against him by EFCC alongside a female accomplice, Asabe Bashir, and son, Abdulaziz Malami.
