Former justice minister Adoke claims EFCC plans to abduct him from the Netherlands ala Umaru Dikko

FORMER attorney-general and justice minister Mohammed Adoke has voiced fears that a plot is being hatched by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to illegally abduct him from the Netherlands where he is staying and forcibly drag him to Nigeria.

Since leaving office in 2015, Mr Adoke has fled to the Netherlands on self-imposed exile and has taken up studying there. He, however is the subject of several anti-corruption investigations, with the EFCC claiming he was involved in the alleged fraud that marred the transfer of OPL 245 licence from Malabu Oil and Gas to Royal Dutch Shell and Italy’s ENI.

Named as an alleged beneficiary in the $1.3bn Malabu oil scam, Mr Adoke has said he may not return home until he gets some concessions from the Nigerian government. Earlier this year he went to court seeking an injunction in the Netherlands, prohibiting the Dutch government from deporting him to Nigeria.

Mr Adoke stated that he had made efforts to explain his involvement in the OPL 245 oil deal between the federal government and Malabu Oil & Gas, which was brokered by the administration of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. However, he claimed that despite his efforts, those whose interest he did not uphold using the benefit of his office took to persecuting him.

“I made spirited efforts to engage with relevant officials of government including the EFCC, the office of the attorney general of the federation 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, 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

“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 & Gas, were intent on impugning the transaction in order to strengthen the hands of their collaborators in government to repudiate settlement.  It was against this background that I approached the federal high court for interpretation of the provisions of sections 5(1); 147, 148, and 150 of the constitution in order to determine whether as a minister in the government of the federation, I could incur criminal liability for carrying out the lawful directives of the president and commander-in-chief, particularly where it has not been shown that I acted in excess of such authority or directive," Mr Adoke added.

He pointed out that 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 his residences in Kano and Okene and that of his brother. Mr Adoke said he has petitioned the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers about his plight and the deliberate efforts being made by the EFCC and the government to deny him his livelihood, family life, as well as the legitimate right to fundamental freedoms.

Mr Adoke added: “I therefore 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.”