Court Orders Forfeiture of 48 Properties Linked to Former AGF-Malami
Bukola Elufadejin
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of 48 out of 57 properties worth N212 billion linked to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN.
The ruling was delivered on Wednesday by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik following a final forfeiture application filed by the EFCC.
Justice Abdulmalik dismissed several objections filed by Malami, his family members, and companies claiming ownership of the properties, ruling that they all lacked merit.
She held that the issue before the court was not โwho owns the property, but how legitimate are the funds used to acquire the properties.โ
With the order, the 48 properties will be handed over to the Federal Government. The remaining 9 were not affected by the ruling.
The forfeited assets are spread across Abuja, Kebbi, Kano and Kaduna states. They include luxury hotels, duplexes, plazas, warehouses, shopping units, schools, factories and residential estates allegedly acquired over several years.
Some of the high-value assets include:
Rayhaan University Permanent Site, Kebbi โ N56,000,000,000
Rayhaan University Temporary Site, Kebbi โ N37,800,000,000
Rayhaan Model Academy, Kebbi โ N11,200,000,000
Azbir Hotel, Kebbi โ N10,325,000,000
Factory Machines and Plants, Kebbi โ N10,500,000,000
Zeennoor Hotel, Kano โ N11,200,000,000
Meethaq Hotels Ltd, Maitama, Abuja โ N12,950,000,000 current value
Luxury Duplex, Maitama, Abuja- N5,950,000,000 current value
Other properties listed include a 100 hectares of land in Birnin Kebbi, multiple residential houses in Gesse Phase II Birnin Kebbi linked to Malami and his sons, Rayhaan Agro Allied Factory, Rayhaan Primary and Secondary School, filling stations, printing press, supermarket, radio station and plazas.
The EFCC had earlier secured an interim forfeiture order on all 57 properties before proceeding with the final forfeiture process.
With the final forfeiture, the 48 properties will now be officially transferred to the Federal Government.
The EFCC says the action is part of ongoing efforts to recover assets suspected to have been acquired with illegitimate
