NIGERIA DROPS TERRORISM FINANCING CHARGES AGAINST EX-JUSTICE MINISTER

On Wednesday April 15, 2026 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, prosecution counsel Akinlolu Kehinde SAN, appearing for the Department of State Services and the Attorney-General's office, informed Justice Joyce Abdulmalik that the government wished to substitute the original charge with an amended one dated April 14. The original charge had included a count of terrorism financing, alleging that Malami had knowingly abetted terrorism by refusing to prosecute suspected terrorism financiers whose case files were sent to his office in November 2022, while he was serving as AGF. That count is now gone entirely.

The amended charge, a five-count document, now focuses solely on illegal possession of firearms. Prosecutors allege that arms and live cartridges including 16 and 27 rounds of Redstar AAA 5'20 live cartridges were found at Malami's residence in Geeze Phase II, Birnin Kebbi LGA, Kebbi State in December 2025. Malami and his son both pleaded not guilty to the amended counts. Defence counsel Shaibu Aruwa confirmed service of the new charge and raised no objection to it being read. Justice Abdulmalik allowed existing bail conditions to stand and adjourned to May 26 and June 16 for trial.

The terrorism financing allegation was far more than a legal charge it was the political heart of the prosecution. Malami served as Attorney-General under former President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2023, a period during which Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgencies killed tens of thousands of Nigerians and displaced nearly two million. Accusing him of protecting terrorism financiers was explosive. Its removal, without explanation and on the very day trial was to commence, has prompted immediate questions about the government's motives and the strength of the original evidence.

Malami and his son face a separate 16-count charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission involving alleged money laundering and unlawful acquisition of assets worth over $6 million. Those proceedings continue independently. But the terrorism financing allegation was what elevated this case from an anti-corruption prosecution into something far more significant  a reckoning with Nigeria's security failures during a period of catastrophic insurgent violence. Its sudden disappearance narrows the case dramatically and, critics say, raises more questions than it answers.

No explanation has been offered by the prosecution, the DSS or the Office of the Attorney-General for the amendment. The government's silence on that question is itself a story. Nigeria's courts have adjourned proceedings. The public is left to draw its own conclusions about why the most serious charge in one of the country's highest-profile prosecutions was quietly removed on the morning it was supposed to be tested in court.