By Ono Yima
Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has come under renewed public scrutiny following his disclosure in court that he earned close to ₦1 billion in gifts from personal friends, alongside billions of naira from salaries, businesses and other income streams, as he seeks to overturn an interim forfeiture order on properties linked to him.
Mr. Malami made the disclosure through his counsel, Chief Joseph Daudu (SAN), in a motion filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja. The application seeks to vacate an interim order that authorised the seizure of three out of 57 properties traced to the former minister by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and earmarked for forfeiture to the Federal Government.
According to court filings, Malami told the court that he earned ₦374.63 million from salaries, estacodes, severance allowances and related entitlements during his years in public service. He further declared ₦574.07 million as income from disposed assets, ₦10.17 billion as turnover from private businesses, and ₦2.52 billion in loans extended to those businesses.
More controversially, the former Attorney-General listed ₦958 million as “traditional gifts from personal friends,” alongside ₦509.88 million realised from the launch and public presentation of his book, Contemporary Issues on Nigerian Law and Practice, Thorny Terrains in Traversing the Nigerian Justice Sector: My Travails and Triumphs.
Mr. Daudu told the court that these income sources were “copiously declared” in Malami’s asset declaration submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), insisting that the interim forfeiture order was unwarranted and should be set aside.
The disclosures, however, have ignited fierce reactions on social media, with many Nigerians questioning the propriety and scale of the gifts claimed by the former chief law officer of the federation. An X user, Ololajulo (@baba_jogunomi), queried how gifts received by Malami could allegedly triple his earnings from salaries, asking whether such generosity existed before he entered government and calling for the donors to be identified and investigated.
The controversy has reopened a long-running national debate over gifts to public officials and the thin line between goodwill and inducement under Nigerian law. Paragraph 6 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution (as amended) prohibits public officers from accepting gifts or benefits in kind, except those of “nominal value” from friends and relatives, a provision designed to safeguard public office from undue influence.
Legal analysts note that the issue is not without precedent. A former Minister of Petroleum Resources was previously indicted by anti-graft authorities over the acceptance of an expensive gold wristwatch, a case that turned public attention to how luxury gifts, even when presented as personal tokens, could constitute breaches of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.
In that case, investigators argued that the value of the item far exceeded what could reasonably be described as nominal, reinforcing the principle that public office holders must not place themselves in positions where personal benefits could compromise official judgment or public trust.
For Malami, critics argue that the sheer scale of the gifts he claims to have received—₦958 million—raises questions that go beyond legality to ethics and perception, particularly given his former role as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. Supporters, however, maintain that proper asset declaration and judicial review should determine the matter, not social media outrage.
As the Federal High Court considers Malami’s application to vacate the interim forfeiture order, the case is shaping up as another defining test of Nigeria’s anti-corruption framework, underscoring the unresolved tensions between wealth, power, and accountability in public life.