Malabu: Atiku, Abacha’s family behind my ordeal – Adoke

Malabu: Atiku, Abacha's family behind my ordeal - Adoke Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke Bello, on Monday listed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and agents to the family of the late dictator, Sani Abacha, as behind plots to humiliate him over the Malabu oil deal.


 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had re-opened investigations into what may pass as one of the biggest scandals in the nation’s oil and gas industry involving Malabu Oil and Gas limited, Shell Ultra Deep Nigeria Limited and the Federal Government regarding the operation and sale of Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245. OPL 245 is a potentially lucrative oil block estimated to hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of crude oil and about a quarter of Nigeria’s proven oil reserves. It also has two deep water fields – Zabazaba and Etan – in the Gulf of Guinea. In a letter dated December 31, 2015 and addressed to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the former AGF, who was invited by the EFCC on December 28, 2015, described the invitation by the anti-graft agency as “curious, unconventional and mischievous.” Bello said since government is a continuum, all files relating to his conduct into the Malabu affairs was resident in the office of the AGF. The ex-minister said he had contacted the current AGF and submitted a comprehensive position paper which explained his role in the deal. He said he has since been informed of a grand plot by those with vested interests in the case to humiliate him. “It was after this development that I was made to understand that there were plans by some individuals who had become aware that I would be honouring the invitation of the EFCC on December 28, 2015 to humiliate me. “I was also informed that these individuals had enlisted a notorious online media (Sahara Reporters) to smear my name with allegations of corruption and bribery and that some agents of the Abacha family and one Lawal Abba acting for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, were behind the scheme,” he said.