A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice,
Mohammed Adoke, has written the general secretariat of INTERPOL in
France to demand his release.
INTERPOL arrested Adoke, who is on trial for corruption in Nigeria, on
November 11 in Dubai.
He has been detained in the UAE since then.
In a letter, dated November 28 and seen by PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Mr
Adoke described his arrest and current trial as political persecution
by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and an abuse of
court orders.
Following Adoke’s alleged involvement in the controversial Malabu oil
deal, the anti-grraft agency sought to prosecute him and other
suspects.
However, the former attorney-general was on the run and was on self-exile.
He played a key role in a 2011 agreement that saw the transfer of OPL
245, a rich oil block, to Shell and Eni. In return, about $1.1 billion
went to Malabu, a shady company then controlled by a former petroleum
minister, Dan Etete. Virtually nothing went to the Nigerian government
in the shady deal.
A large chunk of the money is believed to have gone to officials of
Shell and Eni as well as senior officials of the Goodluck Jonathan
administration.
The oil firms and their officials are being prosecuted in Italy for
their roles in the scandal.
In Nigeria, the trial was stalled largely by the inability of the EFCC
to serve papers on Mr Adoke and other suspects.
The anti-graft agency then approached the Federal Territory High Court
presided over by Justice D. Z Zenchi. In April, the judge issued a
warrant for Mr Adoke’s arrest following an ex-parte application by the
EFCC.
The EFCC also made a request to INTERPOL for an international warrant
of arrest to be issued against Mr Adoke.
Justice Zenchi, however, invalidated the arrest warrant on October 25
based on a request from Mr Adoke’s lawyers who argued that the order
was wrongfully procured.
The judge also asked the EFCC to serve Mr Adoke the court papers by
substituted means.
But on November 11, Mr Adoke was arrested by the UAE authorities.
Adoke said in his letter that the arrest, “was intended for unlawful
and malicious purposes.
“On 11th November 2019, our client was arrested in Dubai (UAE) by the
Interpol in breach of its Article 3 of its constitution as agent of
the political authorities in Nigeria in circumstances described below
as unlawful.
“The criminal charges filed in the courts, in Nigeria, against our
client by the EFCC, are intended for unlawful and malicious purposes,
to wit: political persecution of our client for reasons connected with
our client’s former position in public office as a senior figure in
the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Adoke said in his letter signed by his
lawyer, Femi Oboro.
Adoke who has denied links to the alleged Malabu fraud and had been on
self-exile since vacating office in May 2015, accused the current
government of political intimidation and abuse of court orders.
