Erstwhile Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami yesterday protested against his detention by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Malami, who said his detention is politically motivated, accused the EFCC Chairman Ola Olukayode of pursuing a vendetta against him, asked the agency chief to rescue himself from his investigation and prosecution.

In a statement, he also asked that he be arraigned in a court of competent jurisdiction to enable him to defend himself. The former Attorney General is being held for allegedly financing terrorism and terrorists.

Malami, who claimed that his detention is linked to his defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), also alleged that Olukayode harbours a grudge against him following the Justice Ayo Salami Judicial Commission of Inquiry, which investigated corruption allegations in the EFCC during his tenure as AGF.

He claimed that Olukayode was implicated. The statement said: “The Salami report, which is in the public domain, contains serious findings implicating the present EFCC Chairman, particularly as detailed in chapter 9 of the report.

“The report included possible prosecution of the current EFCC Chairman. “It is against this background that the present investigation—marked by illegal detentions, media harassment, and procedural abuses—now bears all the hallmarks of retaliatory persecution motivated by personal vengeance.

This conduct, Malami asserts, constitutes a grave abuse of office and a direct affront to the rule of law. “Malami further states that he has been clearly pre-judged and therefore cannot receive a fair, objective, or lawful investigation or trial before the EFCC under its current leadership.”