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Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has formally rejected insinuations linking him to alleged terrorism financing.
In a detailed statement on Friday, Malami claimed that at no point in his public life — during or after his tenure — has he been summoned, questioned, targeted or investigated by any security, regulatory or intelligence authority in Nigeria or abroad in relation to terrorism financing.
“I state clearly and unequivocally that I have never at any time been accused, invited, interrogated, investigated or charged by any security, law-enforcement, regulatory or intelligence agency—within or outside Nigeria—in respect of terrorism financing or any related offence,” the former AGF asserted.
The retired military officer quoted in the report, according to Malami, only referenced that some unnamed terror suspects allegedly had “institutional” or “business” dealings with various persons, but did not conclude that such interactions amounted to direct or indirect support for terrorism.
“That important clarification was unfortunately overshadowed by a headline and framing capable of misleading well-meaning members of the public into drawing inaccurate and damaging conclusions,” he noted, accusing political adversaries of hijacking the narrative and deploying it for targeted smear operations.
“To suggest that lawful professional or institutional engagements can, without more, be read as evidence of terrorism financing is both mischievous and unjust,” he maintained.
“During my tenure, I worked with domestic and international partners to strengthen—not undermine—Nigeria’s anti-terror-financing regime. Any attempt to recast this as complicity is politically motivated and devoid of evidentiary basis,” he said.
“Public discourse must differentiate between verified intelligence and politically massaged narratives presented as investigative findings,” he cautioned.
EFCC had recently grilled Malami (SAN), over sundry issues after which he was granted bail.
Top sources revealed to SaharaReporters that Malami was in the EFCC custody on Friday and was almost going to spend the night because of the bail conditions given to him.
“Malami is in EFCC custody, he’s looking for two permanent Secretary for bail conditions,” one of the sources had revealed at that time.
“Update on Malami is that he got bail by providing two top level civil servants after interrogation yesterday (Friday),” another source informed last Saturday morning.
Earlier, the former AGF announced that he had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to provide clarification on “certain issues.”
In a statement shared on his Facebook page last Friday, Malami had assured Nigerians that, as a law-abiding citizen, he was willing to comply with the commission’s invitation without hesitation.
“I am informing my family and friends that EFCC has invited me to clarify on some issues, and as a citizen of law and order and patriot, I am willing to honour this invitation without any hesitation,” he had stated.
“On this note, I am informing Nigerians of any development that will follow, so that everyone will be aware of what is going to go back to because of his current life and history.”
Malami has faced allegations of corruption and abuse of office, but has not been formally charged.
SaharaReporters had in a series of reports exposed wide-ranging legitimacy issues, including non-execution of agreed contracts and backdoor deals raised against the indebtedness from various quarters.
One of the beneficiaries is one Dr Ted Iseghahi Edwards, who was indicted by the EFCC.
Documents seen by SaharaReporters showed that Edwards did not represent the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) as claimed.
A letter dated August 1, 2018, by former EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, to the Ministry of Justice/Attorney General Office, indicted him of an attempt to defraud the Nigerian government.
