By BANNERNEWS Reporter
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has secured an interim forfeiture order for 57 high-value properties worth about N213.23 billion allegedly linked to a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, intensifying its crackdown on alleged grand corruption.
The assets, spread across Abuja, Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna states, were ordered forfeited by the Federal High Court in Abuja following an ex-parte application moved by EFCC counsel, Ekele Iheanacho, SAN, before Justice Emeka Nwite.
In granting the order, the court held that the properties were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities, and therefore forfeited to the Federal Government pending final determination of the matter.
Justice Nwite further directed the EFCC to publish the forfeiture order in a national newspaper, inviting interested parties to show cause within 14 days why a final forfeiture order should not be made, and adjourned the case to January 27, 2026, for compliance.
The forfeiture came less than 12 hours after the same court granted Malami, his wife Asabe Bashir, and his son Abdulaziz Malami bail in the sum of N500 million each, with two sureties, as they face an alleged N8.7 billion money-laundering charge, with trial fixed for February 17.
According to court filings, some of the properties are allegedly linked to Malami’s wife and sons, Abdulaziz and Abiru-Rahman, and include luxury hotels, duplexes, shopping plazas, schools, oil and gas stations, warehouses, agro-allied factories and vast tracts of land.
Among the listed assets are multi-billion-naira hotels in Maitama, Jabi and Asokoro, luxury duplexes in Wuse II and Gwarimpa, commercial properties in Kano and Kaduna, and over 100 hectares of land along the Birnin Kebbi–Jega Road, alongside residential estates and institutional buildings.
As the legal battle unfolds, the EFCC has raised the alarm over what it described as a coordinated plot by opposition politicians to discredit and destabilise the Commission ahead of the 2027 general election.
In a statement on Wednesday, EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale said the agency had uncovered plans to unleash a campaign of calumny against its Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, aimed at frustrating investigations and prosecutions of high-profile suspects.
Oyewale alleged that a network of “paid jobbers” comprising politicians, academics, so-called civil society actors and Nigerian fugitives in the diaspora had been mobilised to accuse the Commission of political bias and intimidate it into inaction.
He warned that the campaign was likely to intensify as the political climate heats up, stressing that the EFCC would neither be distracted nor cowed into abandoning its constitutional mandate.
Reaffirming the Commission’s non-partisan stance, Oyewale said both ruling and opposition party figures were currently under investigation or facing trial, insisting that no individual enjoys immunity from anti-corruption scrutiny.
“The EFCC will not be pressured or blackmailed into selective disclosures or partisan conduct,” he said, adding that the Commission remains committed to justice, accountability and the rule of law without fear or favour.
