By Teddy Nwanunobi
Abuja (Sundiata Post) — Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, on Friday, hit back at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accused the antigraft agency of lending its institutional support to devilish schemes.
Adoke’s reaction was sequel to the charges filed against him and 10 others by the EFCC in relation to the OPL 245 Resolution Agreement involving Malabu Oil & Gas Limited (Malabu) and Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD).
Adoke wondered, if the Commission has gone overboard.
“My attention has been drawn to yet another set of spurious and malicious charges filed against 10 others and me by the EFCC in relation to the OPL 245 Resolution Agreement involving Malabu Oil & Gas Limited (Malabu) and Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD). This renewed move to taint the transaction with illegality is coming at the heels of the spirited moves being made by the EFCC to defend the Interim Forfeiture Order they secured against the beneficiaries of the Bloc (Shell and ENI), who are challenging it.
“While it is not within my province to join the fray, as the beneficiaries are capable of vigorously asserting their interests, I am, however, concerned that the EFCC has continued to allow its investigations/operations, in respect (of) OPL 245, to be micro-managed and/or tele-guided by some non-state actors and powerful families with professed ownership interests in the bloc. These non-state actors are hell bent on using state institutions as proxies in their nefarious quest to out smart each other to the proceeds of Malabu’s divestment from OPL 245.
“I had informed Nigerians in my previous reactions that I had become a target of these powerful individuals for refusing to allow the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to be used to settle their private business interests, and the fact that they had vowed to use their connections in government and with the EFCC to settle personal scores with me.
“It is now clear to me that the EFCC is working hands in glove with them and lending its institutional support to this devilish scheme.
“Has the EFCC gone overboard? How else can one explain the Commission’s deliberate suppression of facts at their disposal and the orchestration of falsehood in a bid to portray me to the public as a corrupt official? What is responsible for this reckless and reprehensible move by the EFCC to link my mortgage repayment to Unity Bank of Nigeria to the alleged bribe of $2.2 million, when the documentation in the Bank in respect of the mortgage is available for any objective person to appraise and come to an informed conclusion?
“While not going into the merits, it is pertinent to state that I had applied for a mortgage loan in the sum of N300 million from Unity Bank of Nigeria to purchase a property from Aliyu Abubakar, a property developer in Abuja. The Bank paid the loan sum directly to the developer and when I could not meet up with the repayments or pay the balance; the he opted to repossess the property.
“I consented to this option and the developer directly paid the Bank the Loan sum and the Certificate of Occupancy was released to him. The EFCC is aware of this transaction and the fact that the developer subsequently sold the property to the Central Bank of Nigeria. If this were not the case, they would have applied to have the mortgaged property forfeited.
“Despite this information, the EFCC in furtherance of its preconceived plan to ridicule and tarnish my name has hinged on this Mortgage transaction to slam me with a preposterous charge of collecting a bribe of $2.2 million on the OPL 245 resolution transaction.
“I wish to restate, once more, that to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, there was nothing illegal or shady about the resolution of the dispute over the ownership and operation of OPL 245.
“All the state actors that midwifed the settlement, including my humble self, acted in the national interests. We had the requisite Presidential approvals to enter into a negotiated settlement, execute the OPL 245 Resolution Agreement & the OPL 245 Re-Allocation and all other ancillary steps required to ensure that the transaction was consummated.
“It is disheartening to note that the EFCC is only focused on impugning the OPL 245 Resolution Agreement without informing Nigerians on the benefits that the Nigerian state has derived from the settlement. It is on record that our actions saved Nigeria over $ 2 billion in damages from the ICSID Arbitration that was instituted by SNUD; resolved claims of Malabu against the Federal Government of Nigeria over the Ownership of OPL 245, and settled the competing claims of Malabu and SNUD over OPL 245 that had over two decades prevented the Bloc 245 from being operational, despite the immense economic benefits derivable from its operation. Instead, we hear of how the interests of the Abacha family in OPL 245 were not protected or that the records of Malabu with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) were altered to exclude certain powerful individuals with close links to the EFCC and this administration.
“It will be recalled that I had asserted, while in office, that the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation would not be used to settle the personal interests of these powerful families and individuals and that the law courts were available for them to ventilate their so called “ownership or shareholding disputes in Malabu Oil & Gas Limited,” Adoke replied EFCC.