A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the permanent forfeiture of 48 properties linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), bringing a seven-month legal battle to a head and marking one of the most significant asset recovery rulings against a former Nigerian cabinet member in recent memory.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik delivered the judgment on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, ruling that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had done enough to establish that the properties were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities. Malami and the other respondents, the court held, failed to show where the money to buy them had actually come from.
“The issue before this court is not who owns the property,” Justice Abdulmalik said, “but how legitimate the funds used to acquire the property are.” That single line captures the whole basis of the ruling. Nigeria’s non-conviction-based forfeiture law does not require prosecutors to prove a crime beyond reasonable doubt. It only requires reasonable suspicion, at which point the burden flips to the property owner to prove the money was clean. Malami’s side, according to the court, never managed that.
How the case got here
The story starts in early January this year. On January 6, Justice Emeka Nwite granted the EFCC an interim forfeiture order on an ex parte application filed by the commission’s counsel, Ekele Iheanacho (SAN). Interim orders like this are routine at the opening stage of Nigeria’s forfeiture process. They freeze the assets and require the EFCC to publish a public notice inviting anyone with a claim to the properties to come forward and show why the assets shouldn’t be permanently forfeited.
The EFCC did exactly that, publishing the order in national newspapers. What followed was a spirited pushback. Malami, alongside 14 other respondents, mostly family members and business associates, filed applications challenging the court’s jurisdiction and arguing that the properties were legitimately acquired. His legal team went further, accusing the EFCC of inflating the value of the assets and relying on what they called a “manipulated” valuation to sway the court.
None of it moved the needle. After both sides filed their final written addresses in late May, and following oral arguments heard on May 27, Justice Abdulmalik reserved judgment. The ruling was originally billed for July 6, then pushed to July 10, then again to July 15 before it was finally delivered this week.
Of the 57 properties the EFCC originally listed in the interim order (marked FHC/ABJ/CS/20/2026), the court excluded nine from the final forfeiture, though it isn’t yet clear from court filings exactly which ones survived the challenge.
What’s actually on the list
This is where the case gets interesting, because the property list reads less like a court document and more like a map of an entire business empire. According to the EFCC, the assets span the Federal Capital Territory and three states: Kebbi, Kano, and Kaduna. Spokesman Dele Oyewale put the total value at roughly N213.2 billion when the interim order was first secured in January.
In Abuja, the forfeited assets include a luxury duplex on Amazon Street in Maitama bought in December 2022 for N500 million and now valued at nearly N6 billion after renovation. There’s also the building on Onitsha Crescent in Garki that used to trade as Harmonia Hotels, bought for N7 billion in 2018, and a five-storey property in Jabi now running as Meethaq Hotels with 53 rooms.
A second Meethaq Hotels property on Rhine Street in Maitama, bought for N430 million in 2018, is now said to be worth close to N13 billion after refurbishment. Add in terraces in Asokoro, a property on Yakubu Gowon Crescent, retail shops in Wuse II and Vegas Mall, and residential houses scattered across Gwarinpa, Apo, and Karsana, and you get a sense of just how wide the Abuja footprint runs.
Kebbi State, Malami’s home turf, is where the real weight sits. This is where Rayhaan University shows up on the list, permanent site, temporary site, third site, and the Vice-Chancellor’s residence, with the permanent campus alone valued at N56 billion. Around the university sits a whole ecosystem: the Rayhaan Agro Allied Factory with its machinery and staff quarters, Rayhaan Model Academy, Rayhaan Primary and Secondary School, Rayhaan Radio, a Rayhaan Security House, and Azbir Arena, which by itself bundles a hotel, a printing press, a gallery, gardens, a mosque, a clothing outlet, and a pharmacy.
There’s also the Khadimiyya for Justice & Development Initiative’s Academic Garden City estate, a filling station structure along the Sani Abacha Bypass, and personal residences belonging to Malami, his son Abdulaziz, and another family member, Abiru-Rahman Abubakar Malami.
Kano State rounds things out with Zeennoor Hotel, a 131-room property in Kabuga Satellite Town valued at N11.2 billion, plus a mosque and an older hotel building on the same grounds, and a separate Rayhaan Hotel and gym near Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
Taken together, the list covers hotels, schools, a radio station, factories, mosques, warehouses, filling stations, and family homes. It’s not the profile of a portfolio built on a public servant’s salary, which is precisely the point the EFCC was making in court.
The bigger picture
Malami served as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from November 2015 to May 2023 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, one of the longest tenures in that office in Nigeria’s recent history. He now faces a separate 16-count money laundering charge alongside his son Abdulaziz and one of his wives, Hajia Bashir Asabe, over an alleged N9 billion in laundered public funds. That criminal case runs on its own track and is distinct from this forfeiture ruling, which is a civil, non-conviction-based process rather than a finding of criminal guilt.
He’s also not the only former Buhari-era official in this position. Ex-Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele and former Labour Minister Chris Ngige have both faced similar scrutiny under the Tinubu administration, part of a broader pattern of asset recovery actions targeting officials from the previous government.
Politically, Malami hasn’t stepped away from public life. He’s currently the Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate for Kebbi State ahead of the 2027 election, which means this ruling lands squarely in the middle of a campaign season and will likely follow him onto the trail.
For now, the properties revert to the Federal Government. Whether Malami’s camp appeals the decision remains to be seen, but given how hard his legal team fought the interim order from day one, few expect this to be the last word.
