The Federal Government has dropped terrorism financing allegation it filed against the former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, and his son, Abdulaziz.
The FG’s counsel, Mr. Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, applied to substitute the charge with an amended one concerning the defendants’ alleged illegal possession of arms and ammunition.
Kehinde said the arms and live cartridges were found in Malami’s Birnin Kebbi residence in Kebbi State.
Malami and his son thereafter took fresh pleas of not guilty to the five-count amended charge.
His lawyer, Shuaibu Arua, SAN, who did not oppose the substitution of the charges, urged the court, however, to allow the defendants to continue to enjoy the bail initially granted them.
The application for the defendant’s bail was not challenged by prosecution counsel.
Consequently, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ruled that the bail the court granted the defendants on February 27, as well as all the conditions already fulfilled, should remain.
The court subsequently fixed May 26 and June 15 for trial.
The Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned Malami and his son before the court on February 3 for allegedly knowingly abetting terrorism financing by refusing to prosecute terrorism financiers whose case files had been brought to his office as AGF.
Both were also jointly accused of illegal possession of firearms, offences punishable under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, 2004.
In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/63/2026, Malami and Abdulaziz were accused of storing firearms in their residence at Gesse Phase II, Birnin Kebbi LGA, Kebbi State, without lawful authority.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the allegations and were granted bail in the sum of N 200 million each, with two sureties each in like sum.
