Breaking: Adoke has no case to answer in $1.1b oil deal as he only followed GEJ’s directive - Judge
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ruled in favour of former attorney-general of the federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke saying he cannot be held liable for acting out the directive of former president, Goodluck Jonathan.
- A Federal High Court in Abuja ruled in favour Mohammed Adoke in the Malabu oil deal
- The Court ruled that he was only following a presidential directive
- Adoke insisted that his trial was a witch-hunt and asked the court to declare his null and void
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ruled in favour of former attorney-general of the federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke saying he cannot be held liable for acting out the directive of former president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The ruling was delivered on Friday, April 13 with the court insisting that Adoke was not liable in the resolution of the OPL 245 dispute with Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd,
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The former minister has asked the court to declare that he only acted based on instructions from Jonathan in the $1.1 billion oil deal.
It will be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed charges of corruption against Adoke, Dan Etete, former petroleum minister; Aliyu Abubakar, a businessman, and Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd at a federal high court in Abuja.
Adoke was accused of given wrong counsel to the government in the resolution of the dispute.
Through his counsel, Kanu Agabi, Adoke as the court to declare his prosecution null and void and he only acted in the interest of the then president, Jonathan.
He said his prosecution was a witch-hunt and illegal.
Meanwhile, a report by The Cable indicates that the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari advising the president on the need for Nigeria to have a stake in the prolific OPL 245.
According to the report, the oil block, considered to be the richest in Africa, was awarded to Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd in 1998 and after a series of controversy, Malabu sold 100% to Eni (Agip) and Shell.
An estimate says OPL 245 holds reserves of 9.3bn barrels of crude oil and gas reserves.
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Source: Naija.ng