UPDATED: Malami accuses EFCC of illegally sealing his Abuja residence, other assets
Former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of resorting to self help and taking
- From Eric Ikhilae, Abuja
Former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of resorting to self help and taking the laws into its hands by sealing his Abuja home among other of his properties.
Malami, while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, claimed that armed officials of the EFCC stormed his residence in Maitama and evicted members of his family, without a valid court order.
The ex-AGF, who described the conduct of the EFCC officials as unwarranted and a disregard of judicial process, said it was wrong for the commission to seek to seal his property while parties were currently in court.
Malami said the same property the EFCC now seeks to seal are those in respect of which he has filed an application for the vacation of an interim forfeiture order earlier granted.
The ex-AGF argued that since the Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed April 20 for the hearing of his application, EFCC ought to have awaited the outcome of the court's process rather than taking the law into its hands.
Malami said, "It is commonplace and in line with the tradition of the judicial process that when a matter is pending before a court, you cannot unilaterally act as a party to take steps that will render the court helpless.
"Traditionally, when you are a party before the court, you cannot, on your own, embark on an execution exercise. The execution of the court orders and processes are the exclusive functions of the court's bailiffs, court sheriffs and judicial processes and are not in any way, the prerogatives of a party to the litigation.
"So, what happened in the forceful eviction of my family members, forceful taking over of my properties and forceful invasion of these properties of mine are legally and judiciously unprecedented in Nigerian history and the Nigerian legal system," Malami said.
Read Also: Malami accuses EFCC of illegally sealing his Abuja residence
The ex-AGF alleged that the EFCC's decision to invade his properties and evict his family members was intended apparently to cause a situation of helplessness on the court that has already fixed the hearing of the application relating to the affected properties to April 20, 2026 for hearing.
He said it was not out of place for people to associate his current ordeal with his recent political involvements.
Malami said it was not strange that after he regained freedom after spending about 99 days in custody and was being visited people of goodwill, the EFCC decided to act the way it did.
He added: "So, the fact that these things happen at a time when I was receiving tremendous goodwill messages, solidarity visits and courtesies, can certainly be a basis for people to insinuate perhaps the political persecutions associated with the conduct of any Federal Government agency.
"So, people are free to insinuate those things and I think that those insinuations of political conduct cannot legitimately be misplaced."
Malami urged the Federal Government and its agencies to exercise restraint and allow the court to decide cases pending before them rather than engage in self help.
