Abubakar Malami

Abubakar Malami SAN (born 17 April 1967), is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who served as minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation from 2015 to 2023.

Abubakar Malami, a Fulani Muslim, was born on 17 April 1967 in Birnin Kebbi, the capital of Kebbi State, Northern Nigeria.

His early formal education began at Nassarawa Primary School, Birnin Kebbi before he completed his secondary school education at College of Arts and Arabic Studies.

In 1991, he graduated from Usmanu Danfodiyo University where he studied Law and was called to the bar in 1992.

He is an alumnus of the University of Maiduguri, where he obtained his master's degree in public administration in 1994.

After graduating, he became a legal practitioner, serving in various capacities including being a state counsel and magistrate in Kebbi State, Nigeria.

Malami was the National Legal Adviser of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change.

He was actively involved in the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013 as the resource person to the Manifesto Drafting Sub-Committee of Inter Joint Party Merger Committees between the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

In 2014, Abubakar contested for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress in Kebbi State but stepped down during the party primaries in favour of Atiku Bugudu.

On 11 November 2015, Abubakar was appointed as Minister for Justice and Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria thus making him the youngest minister in Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet.

Malami claimed that he declared all assets in the assets declarations filed with the Code of Conduct Bureau upon appointment in 2015 and again upon re-appointment in 2019.

In May 2021, Malami appeared before a House committee to answer for suspected diversion of recovered laundered money intended for the consolidated revenue account along with other alleged improprieties.

In December 2017, Malami announced that the Federal Government has reached an agreement with the United States and Jersey to repatriate over $300 million of Nigerian public funds that had been stolen and stored abroad by former military head of state Sani Abacha.

On 21 August 2019, he was re-appointed as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation by President Muhammadu Buhari on 21 August 2019.

In June 2019, Malami appeared before a disciplinary panel of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee to face the petitioners seeking the stripping of his Senior Advocate of Nigeria rank for alleged misconduct.

The case was dismissed due to procedural issues on the part of the claimant.

The agreement was finally signed in February 2020 with Malami stating that the federal government intends on using the recovered funds to finance infrastructure, namely the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano highway, and Second Niger Bridge.

In June 2020, Malami filed a petition to the Government to remove the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu.

In his petition, he stated that Ibrahim Magu should be sacked on several grounds raging from diversion of recovered loot to insubordination and misconduct.

Magu disputed Malami's claims and challenged Malami to present evidence that Magu had diverted funds.

Magu was suspended on 7 July 2020 and eventually replaced as EFCC Chairman.

Later in June 2020, Malami wrote to state governors to inform them that no stamp duties had been recovered from 2016 to 2020.

He demanded that state ministries, departments, agencies, and other government institutions engage and grant access to recovery agents for the purpose of the audit and recovery of stamp duties "to ensure that all established liabilities are remitted as appropriate."

In October 2020, the office of the Attorney-General won a seven-year long legal battle with Interocean Oil over a contract dispute.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruling in Nigeria's favour relieved the government of $1.5 billion in liability payments and also awarded Nigeria $660,000 in arbitration costs.

As reported by Nelogram, Abubakar Malami published a tell-all memoir and autobiography which chronicled his tenure as the AGF of Nigeria.

The title of the memoir is "Traversing the Thorny Terrain of Nigeria’s Justice Sector; My Travails and Triumphs".

In 2020, a lawyer, Izu Aniagu, submitted a new petition to the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee to remove Malami's Senior Advocate of Nigeria rank.

Aniagu's petition, which received over 10,000 online signatures, was based on the claim that Malami unilaterally deleted certain provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners in violation of the law.

Later in 2020, Aniagu accused the LPPC and Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad of purposeful inaction on his petition.

As a part of the dispute between Malami and then-EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu, reports came out in July 2020 that Malami and Magu had clashed over and given conflicting orders on seized assets, notably when Malami authorised the auction of several sea vessels holding crude oil and diesel.

Malami directed Omoh-Jay Nigeria Ltd. to auction the vessels despite previous theft allegations against the company.

Umar Gwandu, Malami's spokesman, claimed that the auction was not illegal and Omo-Jay was innocent until proven guilty.

Gwandu later said that the auction allegation and other corruption allegations had "caused [Malami] considerable distress, psychological trauma, anxiety and greatly injured his character and reputation."

Various Sahara Reporters investigations have alleged that Malami and his family has amassed "unexplained wealth" while Malami served as Attorney-General.

The reports have outlined how Malami himself owns a hotel in Sokoto, four houses in Abuja, a school in Birnin Kebbi, and a hotel under construction in Abuja.

Malami was also shown to have bought two houses for his sons in Birnin Kebbi and an event centre called Azbir Arena for one of his sons; both sons were also known to drive expensive cars and have no known work history.

The Malami family also were seen leaving chartered private jets when arriving in Birnin Kebbi for a family wedding.

After the publication of the initial reports in July 2020, Malami's lawyer, Sunday Ameh, wrote to Police Inspector General Mohammed Adamu to call for investigation into Sahara Reporters and its founder Omoyele Sowore.

In August, Malami wrote to President Buhari, stating that his wealth had come from business and investments from prior to becoming AG.