Abubakar Malami, SAN was one of the few Ministers that served for 8 years under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. He served as Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and had to swim through many controversial waters. Malami nursed a governorship ambition in his home state of Kebbi but dropped the ambition after he decided not to resign as Minister after President Buhari gave ultimatum for anyone seeking elective post to resign from his cabinet.
Abubakar Malami just two years after leaving office as Minister of Justice and AGF under an APC-led federal government resigned his membership of the All Progressives Congress and joined the Atiku Abubakar-led ADC coalition. According to Malami, his move into ADC is not out of any political ambition but to help Nigeria chart a new course.
However, a 2023 report by The Cable indicates that Abubakar Malami is a subject of investigation in five major corruption transactions that allegedly occurred under his watch as Attorney-General of the Federation and which he is being accused of complicity. These corruption scandals include:
- Facilitating payment of an unnecessary $496 million to Global Steel Holdings Ltd (GSHL) as settlement for the termination of the Ajaokuta Steel concession despite the Indian company having waved off all claims for compensation in 2013.
- Corruption in the sale of assets worth billions of naira forfeited to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by politically exposed persons.
- Facilitating the award of $418 million judgment debt awarded to strange consultants who claimed to have facilitated the Paris Club refunds to the 36 states even when the Governors Forum insisted the so-called consultants did not do any verifiable work for the states. .
- Instigating an agreement to pay Sunrise Power $200 million compensation in its dispute with the federal government over the Mambilla power project which President Buhari declined to approve.
- Recruiting a legal firm to write letter to the Swiss government requesting transfer of $321 million Abacha loot from Switzerland to Nigeria and allegedly paying the consultants $17 million as legal fee just for an ordinary letter his ministry could have written.
Four out of these five transactions have a cumulative amount of $1.12 billion.
Ajaokuta Steel bizarre $496 million settlement in 2022
The story of the multi-billion dollar Ajaokuta steel has been one plagued with controversies and unending attempts to rip off Nigeria right from 2004 when Global Steel was given concession rights to the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO), Itakpe by the Obasanjo government.
However, President Yaradua in June 2008, revoked Global Steel’s 10-year Ajaokuta concession on the ground that the company was involved in asset stripping and had failed to bring in any investment into the company four years into the concession. It also terminated Global Steel’s concession for NIOMCO. Global Steel dragged Nigeria before an international arbitration panel.
After the promoters of Global Steel faced possible criminal charges for asset stripping in Ajaokuta steel, they relinquished their claims to Ajaokuta steel and in 2016 President Buhari approved the execution of a modified concession agreement which allowed Global Steel to retake only NIOMCO in Itakpe. The agreement was executed in 2017 with then Vice President Osinbajo signing on behalf of Nigeria.
However in 2020, Global Steel surprisingly threatened to return to arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC, Paris in respect of the cancelled Ajaokuta steel concession. This was kept out of the knowledge of the Nigerian public with revelations suggesting Global Steel deliberately restarted the case against Nigeria in connivance with some government officials. Global Steel claimed over $5.2 billion as damages.
Malami’s ministry in September 2022 (8 months to the end of Buhari’s tenure) announced that the federal government had reached a settlement of $496 million with Global Steel.
Malami expedited approvals and the federal government began disbursing the funds in two instalments. The first tranche of $250 million was released on September 15, 2022. Subsequent payments were made in late 2022 and into early 2023, completing the agreed amount of $496 million. The anti-corruption agencies are said to be investigating the involvement of Malami in the alleged conspiracy with Global Steel.
Mambilla Power Project: Strange $200 million Settlement Deal with Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd
In early 2020, AGF Malami agreed on behalf of the federal government to pay Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL) $200 million as “final settlement” of the dispute over the Mambilla power project in Taraba state. He also agreed to pay a penalty of 10 per cent in case of a default in fulfilling the settlement agreement.
Sunrise had previously asked for an $80 million settlement only in order to withdraw its arbitration claim against Nigeria in France over an alleged breach of contract. But Fashola who was Minister of Power then insisted there was no breach of contract as Sunrise had not done any work to warrant any demand or arbitration. He also questioned the integrity of the contract as there was no record of FEC approval when the said contract was allegedly awarded in May 2003.
Fortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari blatantly refused to pay the $200 million settlement to Sunrise. In a reply to Malami dated Monday, April 20, Buhari said: “FG does not have USD 200 million to pay SPTCL”. The arbitration case is still ongoing.
$17 million Abacha Loot legal fee to Lawyers linked to Malami
In 1999, the federal government engaged the services of a Swiss lawyer, Enrico Monfrini, to help Nigeria trace, identify, freeze and recover all looted funds traced to late military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha. After seven years of work, including investigations and litigation across various countries and jurisdictions, the Swiss lawyer helped Nigeria recover $321 million from Luxemburg banks.
The recovered funds were domiciled with the government of Switzerland in 2014 pending a final request for transfer from the Nigerian government. Monfrini and other lawyers involved in the recovery were paid their fees, with the Swiss getting about $12 million as commission.
However, AGF Malami, instead of writing directly to the Swiss authorities to request the transfer of the already recovered funds to Nigeria, engaged two Nigerian lawyers who were his associates, Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo, to write a letter to the Swiss government. They were paid $17 million as “professional fees” for writing the letter.
Controversial $418 million Paris Club Refund consultancy fee
Some consultants, who claimed to have helped the states calculate their share of the Paris Club refunds, sued the federal government to court demanding to be paid their fees. The state governors vigorously disputed the claims by the consultants asking them to provide evidence of the so-called work they did.
Malami as AGF decided to push for an out-of-court settlement with the consultants and agreed that the states would pay $418 million to the consultants and that the monies would be deducted from their federation allocations over time. Despite the protests from the Nigerian Governors Forum, Malami got the then Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed to issue promissory notes to the consultants in 2021.
However under the Tinubu administration, the Lateef Fagbemi, the new Attorney General of the Federation successfully approached the federal High Court in suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/896/2023 to restrain the consultants from transacting with the promissory notes.
Shaddy sale of properties recovered from politically exposed persons
Former AGF, Abubakar Malami was fingered in scandal involving fraudulent sale of assets forfeited to the federal government by individuals undergoing corruption trials. A close associate of Malami, Ladidi Mohammed, who was head of Asset Recovery and Management Unit in the ministry of justice headed by Malami was investigated by the EFCC in August 2022 for fraudulently selling off recovered assets worth billions of naira. She reportedly told EFCC that she acted based on the instructions of the former Attorney-General of the Federation.