The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed July 6, 2026, for judgment in the forfeiture case involving 57 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, his family members, associates and companies.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik fixed the date on Tuesday after lawyers representing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Malami, companies and other interested parties adopted their final processes in the matter.
The EFCC is seeking an order of final forfeiture of the properties to the Federal Government, alleging that the assets were acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.
During the proceedings, counsel to the EFCC, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, moved the commission’s motion for final forfeiture, which was filed in February. He told the court that the application was supported by a 47-paragraph affidavit and 46 exhibits contained in three volumes.
Okutepa urged the court to grant the final forfeiture order as prayed, insisting that Malami and the other respondents had failed to show that the affected properties were legitimately acquired.
Counsel to the respondents, Adedayo Adedeji, SAN, opposed the application and adopted processes filed on February 27, including a 109-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Malami.
Adedeji said the affidavit was filed to show cause why the interim forfeiture order earlier granted by the court should not be made final. He urged the court to set aside the interim order and hold that the respondents had demonstrated that the properties were not acquired from proceeds of crime.
According to him, the EFCC relied largely on suspicion rather than evidence.
“The court deals with evidence, not suspicion,” Adedeji argued.
He also contended that the EFCC’s counter-affidavit was incompetent and unknown to law, arguing that the court had only directed the respondents to show cause why the interim forfeiture should not be made final.
Adedeji further submitted that some of the properties were acquired before Malami assumed office as Attorney-General of the Federation and could not be treated as proceeds of crime.
However, Okutepa, relying on a 77-paragraph counter-affidavit filed on May 5 and supported by 80 exhibits, urged the court to reject the respondents’ arguments and order the final forfeiture of the assets.
He maintained that the respondents had “woefully failed to show cause” that the properties were acquired legitimately.
Lawyers representing other individuals and companies connected to some of the affected properties also adopted their separate counter-affidavits and urged the court to refuse the EFCC’s application in the interest of justice.
The case involves properties said to be worth about ₦212.8 billion, located in Abuja, Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna states.
The properties were earlier placed under an interim forfeiture order in January by Justice Emeka Nwite, who handled the matter as a vacation judge after the EFCC alleged that the assets were proceeds of unlawful activities.
After the court vacation, the case was reassigned to Justice Abdulmalik.
At a previous sitting on April 21, the court directed all parties and interested persons to file and serve their processes on or before April 27 and warned against delay tactics.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Abdulmalik refused to entertain processes filed outside the deadline, saying her earlier ruling must stand.
“When I make a ruling, my ruling stands. Any process filed after April 27 will be discountenanced,” the judge held.
The court also refused an application by the respondents seeking leave to adduce oral evidence, with the judge holding that allowing oral evidence would alter the nature of the proceedings, which commenced by ex parte motion.
“To grant this application will amount to an abuse of court process,” Justice Abdulmalik held.
The court spent several hours hearing and adopting dozens of applications, including motions for extension of time, regularisation of processes, counter-affidavits and further affidavits filed by different parties seeking to show cause why the interim forfeiture order should not be made final.
After all parties adopted their processes, Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to July 6 for ruling and judgment.
The post “Properties Are Not Proceeds Of Crime” — Court Fixes July 6 For Judgment In EFCC’s Forfeiture Case Against Malami Over 57 Properties appeared first on TheNigeriaLawyer.
