Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the anti-graft agency will appeal a court ruling dismissing its bid to forfeit nine properties linked to Abubakar Malami, former attorney-general of the federation (AGF).
Olukoyede spoke on Wednesday while delivering a lecture at
the 43rd Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime at Jesus College,
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
The 2026 symposium, themed ‘Asset Recovery and the Rule of
Law – Taking the Profit Out of Crime’, brings together law enforcement
officials, judges, prosecutors and experts from different countries to examine
ways of improving the recovery of crime proceeds.
The EFCC chairman said the commission traced 57 properties
to Malami and had secured the final forfeiture of 48 of them.
“Sometimes last year, I opened investigations upon
reasonable suspicion of criminal abuse of office by the immediate past
attorney-general of Nigeria,” Olukoyede said.
“We discovered that within eight years of his being in
office, we were able to trace about 57 such properties to him. We’ve been able
to forfeit about 48.
“Even the nine that were left for him, I’m considering
filing an appeal so that we can take everything away from him. And we’re going
to do that.”
The statement comes weeks after the federal high court in
Abuja ordered the final forfeiture of 48 properties linked to the former AGF.
The 57 properties were initially placed under an interim
forfeiture order in January.
In its July 15 ruling, the court held that the EFCC had
established that the 48 properties were proceeds of suspected unlawful
activities.
However, Joyce Abdulmalik, the judge, dismissed the
application concerning nine other properties in Kebbi and Kaduna, ruling that
the EFCC had failed to establish that they were obtained through unlawful
means.
The EFCC chairman said the commission’s use of civil
forfeiture had enabled it to target assets suspected to be proceeds of crime
without waiting for the conclusion of criminal trials.
He identified asset tracing, judicial support and credible
intelligence as key factors in successful non-conviction-based forfeiture.
‘UP TO 5% REWARD FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS’
Olukoyede further said the EFCC will pay whistleblowers up
to five percent of recovered assets where information provided by them leads to
the recovery of stolen Nigerian assets.
He also urged the public to provide information that could
help the commission trace stolen Nigerian assets, particularly those moved
outside the country.
Olukoyede said whistleblowers could potentially receive
significant financial rewards where their information leads to the recovery of
stolen assets.
“The citizens must be encouraged with your whistleblower
protection,” he said.
“If any of you is privy to where Nigerian asset is stolen or
taken to anywhere in the world, we have an incentive for you. Between 2.5 and 5
percent is going to go back to you upon recovery.
“You can never tell, if you give me any information, some of
you here may leave this place a multi-millionaire in dollars before the end of
this month.”
Olukoyede said credible intelligence from members of the
public was one of the key factors necessary for effective asset tracing and
forfeiture.
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