A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Monday Ubani, has denied any link with the embattled former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), describing recent attempts to associate him with an alleged criminal narrative as reckless, malicious and contemptuous of the court.

Ubani, through his solicitor, Nkem Okoro, issued a strong rebuttal to a recent publication, accusing the writer of deliberately inserting his name into a sensational narrative without facts, documents, witnesses or any identifiable connection to wrongdoing.

The statement said the publication was not only defamatory but also a direct violation of an existing court order restraining the writer from making further defamatory or reputation-damaging publications against Ubani.

It added that the author’s conduct showed open disregard for the authority of the court and the rule of law, especially considering ongoing civil and criminal proceedings already instituted against him.

“The casual mention of a person’s name in a criminal narrative without particulars does not amount to evidence or public interest disclosure. It is character assassination and an abuse of media space,” the statement read in part.

Ubani categorically denied having any professional, financial, administrative or personal dealings with Malami, stressing that no relationship, transaction or interaction exists that could justify the claims being circulated. 

According to his legal team, the complete absence of factual particulars in the publication further exposes what it described as the emptiness and mischief behind the allegations, warning that reputation should not be sacrificed on the altar of sensationalism.

The statement disclosed that Ubani’s lawyers have already activated “robust civil and criminal enforcement processes” against the author over what they termed serial defamatory publications and persistent contemptuous conduct. 

These processes, it said, are being pursued deliberately and would be carried through to their logical conclusion. The statement stressed that if the author or anyone else genuinely possesses credible evidence against Ubani, the proper forum remains the courtroom and not media trials, open letters or unrestrained use of public platforms to smear reputations.

MEANWHILE, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has dismissed claims that Malami was charged or investigated for terrorism financing, describing the allegation as false and unfounded.
 
During a live programme, Olukoyede clarified that the anti-graft agency never linked the ex-AGF to terrorism financing, stressing that the charges filed against him at the Federal High Court were strictly related to money laundering.
 
He explained that reports suggesting terrorism financing were products of speculation and third-party narratives, not official EFCC communication.