My detention and probe has nothing to do with corruption but pure vendetta and the hunger to settle old scores, coupled with political motivations, Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ), said on Monday.
Malami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), currently being detained in the facility of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), particularly accused Ola Olukayode, the Chairman of the anti-graft agency of bearing grudges against him over their past dealings and therefore unfit to carry out any credible probe.
The former AGF while urging the EFCC boss to recuse himself from the investigation, in a statement he personally signed, called on Lateef Fagbemi, his successor to intervene in the matter by ensuring that whatever inquiry about allegations of misdeed was taken away from the commission and transferred to another agency without old bias or animosity.
Also adding that his investigation and detention were driven by personal animosity linked to his recent defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), he said his differences with the EFCC boss had its root in the Justice Ayo Salami Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which investigated corruption allegations within the EFCC during his tenure as Attorney-General
His words: “The present investigation—marked by illegal detentions, media harassment, and procedural abuses—bears all the hallmarks of retaliatory persecution motivated by personal vengeance.”
Maintaining that the EFCC, under its current leadership, could not conduct a fair or objective investigation into his activities, Malami formally demanded that Olukayode should step aside and that the matter be transferred to another government agency to ensure impartiality, credibility, and public confidence.
Stressing that EFCC Chairman risked further institutional damage and abuse of prosecutorial powers, Malami urged immediate arraignment before a competent court, in compliance with Sections 35(3), (4), and (5) of the Nigerian Constitution, stating that only a court—not a politically compromised agency—can lawfully adjudicate the matter.
He further accused the EFCC of planning to rely on questionable witnesses, including individuals convicted abroad, to bolster its case against him, calling the approach “desperate, scandalous, and corrosive to the integrity of Nigeria’s criminal justice system.
“My objective is to clear his name transparently through lawful judicial processes. The law must remain supreme—above politics, above power, and above persons.”
