Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation (AGF), says he believes he deserves an apology from the Nigerian government over the humiliation he went through in the OPL 245 saga.
Adoke spoke in Abuja on Tuesday during a reading of his new
book, ‘OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3bn Nigerian Oil Block’.
OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu in 1998 by the regime of the
late Sani Abacha, but it became a subject of global corruption investigations,
criminal prosecution and civil cases across the world after the Nigerian
company sold its entire interest for $1.1 billion to Shell and Eni in 2011.
The oil companies also paid $210 million as signature bonus
to the federation.
At the time, it was reported that Obasanjo revoked OPL 245’s
license primarily due to irregularities in its original allocation and opaque
shareholding linked to Dan Etete, the former petroleum minister who fronted the
Malabu deal.
In a 2017 interview, Obasanjo denied knowledge of the deal.
But documents showed there were indeed agreements between
Malabu and the government of Obasanjo.
Adoke was one of many officials who were caught in the saga
after the late former President Muhammadu Buhari filed criminal charges against
him.
However, the former attorney-general was discharged and
acquitted in the related charges filed before two federal high courts in Abuja.
Nigeria also lost all cases in Italy and the UK, while the
US and Dutch authorities ended investigations without brining any charges.
‘I DESERVE AN APOLOGY’
Answering a question during his book reading, Adoke said the
Nigerian government ought to have apologised to him for putting him through
“strain, stress, embarrassment and humiliation for nothing”.
“After all the court cases vindicated me, I thought the
Nigerian government should have apologised to me, but I’ve moved on with my
life,” he said.
He also revealed that high-profile individuals were after
the proceeds of the oil block, resulting in a “dog-eat-dog” situation, which,
according to him, contributed to the reason why the licence was revoked.
“Some people in government wanted to acquire 60 percent
stake in OPL 245. And so, because the owners did not want to relinquish 60
percent was the real reason why OPL 245 was revoked,” he said.
“And those people who came forward to even try to buy stake
were known associates of Obasanjo, Atiku… but I don’t want to ruffle any
feathers.”
Adoke said the former president’s actions were an error of
judgement.
“He didn’t act in the best interest of Nigeria,” the former
AGF said.
Adoke took a swipe at the former president, suggesting that
Obasanjo’s denial of approving the licence may be due to amnesia.
“He was the one that signed off the resolution agreement, he
was the one that gave the approval, and so when he made that denial and said
Adoke was lying against him, the next day I published in several Nigerian
newspapers documents showing that he gave the approval,” Adoke said.
“He had said that ‘If Adoke can show that I gave the
approval I would apologise to him’. I said he acted irresponsibly, in a manner
that was not befitting of a statesman and exercised poor judgement because when
that document came, he refused to apologise to Nigeria and kept quiet.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com