The Federal High Court in Abuja has again postponed its judgment in the forfeiture case involving 57 properties allegedly tied to former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
The matter, which was scheduled for judgment on Friday before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, did not proceed because the judge was not available. The court has now fixed July 15, 2026 for the decision.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that July 6 was earlier set as the judgment date on May 26. On that day, both sides had already adopted their final arguments.
EFCC’s lawyer, Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, is asking the court to permanently forfeit the properties to the federal government. He told the court the properties are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.
In February, the EFCC filed the motion with a 47-paragraph affidavit and 46 exhibits across three volumes. Okutepa argued that Malami and the other respondents had “woefully failed to show cause” that the assets were acquired legitimately.
Malami’s counsel, Adedayo Adedeji, SAN, opposed the request. He said Malami filed a 109-paragraph counter-affidavit to explain why the final forfeiture order should not be granted.
Adedeji urged the court to set aside the earlier interim order, insisting the respondents had shown the properties “were not acquired from proceeds of crime.” He argued that the EFCC was relying on suspicion instead of evidence, and noted that “the court deals with evidence, not suspicion.”
He also faulted the EFCC for depending on extrajudicial statements that would normally be tested through cross-examination in a criminal trial. According to him, the court cannot properly decide the matter without oral evidence, which it had earlier declined.
Adedeji added that some of the properties were bought before Malami took office, and therefore could not be linked to crime. He asked the court to dismiss the forfeiture application.
Justice Abdulmalik will now deliver judgment on July 15.
