EFCC reacts to court order granting Malami bail

The reaction by the EFCC followed the claim by Mr Malami's media aide's claim that the commission disobeyed a court order granting the former AGF bail.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Wednesday that it has not received any court granting bail to former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.

EFCC’s lawyer in the case, Jibrin Okutepa, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said neither his law firm nor the commission had been served with such an order.

“I have been inundated with calls and messages from professional colleagues and other well-meaning Nigerians who want to know why, as lead counsel to the EFCC, I have not prevailed on the commission to release the former Attorney General, despite an alleged ex-parte court order granting him bail on 23 December 2025,” Mr Okutepa said.

He described reports of an ex-parte order granting bail to Mr Malami “bizarre and absurd”. He noted that Mr Malami, who now faces money laundering charges, and his legal team were already aware of the case facts and that the EFCC is the lawful detaining authority.

Mr Okutepa recalled that Mr Malami was remanded in EFCC custody by a trial judge S.C. Oriji of the FCT High Court on 10 December, for a 14-day period pending investigation. That order, he said, remains in effect.

He added that despite this, Mr Malami’s lawyers had filed an ex-parte bail application before another judge Babaginda Hassan on 15 December, which was dismissed on 18 December, on the grounds that Mr Malami was lawfully detained.

According to Mr Okutepa, a subsequent ex-parte application allegedly granting bail before another judge Bello Kawu was filed without respecting existing court orders.

“Malami is being lawfully detained under valid and subsisting court orders,” he emphasised, urging the public not to be misled by statements suggesting otherwise.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Judge Kawu of the FCT High Court in Abuja granted Mr Malami bail after an ex parte hearing on Tuesday.

The court granted bail to Mr Malami, who has been in custody since 8 December, adopting the bail conditions earlier set by the EFCC to release him.

But the EFCC’s bail conditions remain in dispute.

Mr Malami claimed to have met the bail conditions on 28 November, when he was first invited for interrogation, only for the EFCC to decide to later revoke the bail.

But EFCC, in an earlier rebuttal it issued on Saturday (20 December) to the claim, said it never revoked the bail, adding that Mr Malami never met any of the five bail conditions.

On Wednesday, Mr Malami’s media aide, Mohammed Doka, accused the commission of refusing to release him despite a court-approved bail.

In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Mr Doka alleged that EFCC officials “chased away the bailiff” and continued to detain the former minister, in defiance of the court’s directive.

EFCC charges Malami

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the EFCC had filed 16 counts against Mr Malami, his son, Abubakar Malami, and Bashir Asabe, an employee of Rahamaniyya Properties Ltd.

The charges include money laundering, concealment, and unlawful acquisition of proceeds of illegal activity. He allegedly committed the offences between 2015 and 2025, a period which include his eight years in office as the AGF, during the administration of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari. No date has been fixed for his arraignment.

Meanwhile, documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES linked Mr Malami to 41 properties across Kebbi, Kano, and Abuja, with a combined estimated value of N212.89 billion.

The properties. which the EFCC claimed were suspected proceeds of Mr Malami’s alleged unlawful activity, included hotels, schools, factories, and residential houses.

The revelation came just days after EFCC raided Mr Malami’s homes and offices in Abuja and Kebbi State on 17 December.

He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Mr Malami was detained by the EFCC on 8 December, in connection with a multi-billion-naira money laundering investigation.

The EFCC confirmed the operation but rejected claims that it was a raid.

Mr Malami served as Nigeria’s Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2023 under former President Buhari.

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he recently defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and has declared his intention to contest the 2027 governorship election in Kebbi State.