By Shola Oyeyipo
Former Attorney-General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has
raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the federal government and its
agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to forcibly
extradite him back to Nigeria over corruption allegations.
Adoke in a statement he personally
signed yesterday and titled: ‘Threat to My Life and Impending
Abduction,’ pointed accusing fingers at the presidency, unnamed powerful
families in the country and the EFCC as the masterminds of the plot to
whisk him back to Nigeria against his wish.
According to him, the EFCC in
collaboration with the presidency and the families he mentioned are
fine-tuning plans to illegally abduct him and forcibly drag me to
Nigeria so as to detain and humiliate him for his audacity to challenge
his “continuous persecution, intimidation and harassment by the EFCC” in
court.
“I wish to use this medium to once more
sensitise Nigerians and the international community about the flagrant
abuse of my rights being perpetrated by Nigerian authorities under the
guise of fighting corruption and the plan to illegally abduct me against
all known international laws, rules and norms in order to forcibly take
me to Nigeria akin to the botched ‘Umaru Dikko Saga’ in the UK in 1984
for the sole purpose of humiliating and illegally detaining me
indefinitely for daring to challenge the actions/illegalities of the
EFCC before Nigerian courts and relevant UN Human Rights mechanisms.
“I have petitioned the United Nations
(UN) Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers about
my plight and the deliberate efforts being made by the EFCC and the
government to deny me my livelihood, family life, as well as my
legitimate right to fundamental freedoms,” he alleged.
Explaining the source of his
predicament, Adoke said: “It will be recalled that following relentless
media attacks on my person by the EFCC acting in concert with some
powerful families with known ties to the government which culminated in
the filing of phantom money laundering and corruption charges against
me, I made spirited efforts to engage with relevant officials of
government including the EFCC, the office of the AGF and the presidency
to furnish them with all the information in respect of the OPL 245
Settlement Agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and
Malabu Oil & Gas Limited which was brokered by the administration of
President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“I also furnished copies of relevant
agreements and presidential approvals to implement the settlement
agreement; evidence that the signature bonus of US$210 million due to
government was duly paid and that all the officials that were involved
in the implementation of the settlement agreement acted in furtherance
of the requisite presidential approval to actualize government’s desire
to end a long standing dispute over the ownership and operation of Block
245 that had prevented the commercial exploitation of the block for the
benefit of the country.
“Despite my best endeavour to explain
the transaction, it became obvious that those who felt aggrieved by my
refusal to use my office to further their interests in Malabu Oil and
Gas Limited, (the beneficiary of the OPL 245 Settlement Agreement) were
intent on impugning the transaction in order to strengthen the hands of
their collaborators in government to repudiate the settlement.
Consequently, concerted efforts were made in the media to taint the
otherwise transparent implementation of the settlement agreement with
corruption. I was singled out for prosecution in the absence of any
proof of personal interest/gain or wrongdoing on my part.”
He said he was compelled to approach the
Federal High Court for interpretation of the provisions of Sections
5(1); 147, 148, and 150 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in order
to determine whether as a minister in the government of the federation,
he could incur criminal liability for carrying out the lawful directives
of the president and Commander-in-Chief, particularly where it had not
been shown that he acted in excess of such authority or directive.
“I was made to understand this move did
not go down well with certain persons in the presidency and the EFCC,
hence the renewed harassment and intimidation that followed in form of
searches of my residences in Kano and Okene and that of my brother.
While these searches for ‘hidden dollars’ have not yielded any fruit
because I do not have any money stacked up anywhere, a new angle has
emerged as a plan has been hatched to abduct me from any jurisdiction
where I may be with the help of security agents of some collaborating
countries known for extra-ordinary renditions for the sole purpose of
meting out the ‘Dasuki treatment’ to me.
“It is reasoned that if I were held out
as a corrupt person with illegally obtained wealth, I would lose
sympathy from Nigerians and indeed the international community thereby
making it possible for them to tolerate my illegal incarceration,” he
added.
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