Matilda Omonaiye/
Nigeria’s former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, has departed the United Arab Emirates for Nigeria after he was freed by the Interpol outpost in Dubai.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, Adoke left Dubai on Emirates Airlines Flight 785 which departed the Emirati commercial capital at 11.00am Dubai time (8am Nigerian time) and was estimated to arrive Abuja at 3.40pm local time.
The departure capped a five-week ordeal of Adoke in Emirati detention. He was arrested by Interpol on November 11 after arriving in the UAE for medical check-up and summarily taken into custody.
His arrest followed an Interpol red alert which the Nigerian government had issued against him as part of the ongoing litigation over the controversial Malabu Oil deal.
But the UAE authorities freed him after Nigeria failed to provide legal basis and other requisite bilateral supports to justify his continued detention.
The arrest warrant upon which Adoke was arrested had long being nullified by the same judge that issued it. But the Nigerian government failed to update Interpol appropriately.
Adoke, attorney-general from April 2010 to May 2015, left Nigeria after the Goodluck Jonathan government stepped down. He left the country for a graduate study at a university in The Netherlands.
He however did not return home after his study. He alleged a conspiracy by the current administration to persecute him.
He was the attorney-general when $1.1 billion was paid by Shell and Agip-Eni to purchase Nigeria’s OPL 245, a lucrative oil field off the country’s southern coast.
Dan Etete, a former petroleum minister during Sani Abacha regime, who was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007, received a large chunk of the payment.
But the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleged that some individuals and officials of the Goodluck Jonathan government received kickbacks.
Adoke, Jonathan and others named in the scandal all strongly denied receiving bribes from anyone or committing any wrongdoing.
In 2017, Adoke’s successor, Abubakar Malami, told President Muhammadu Buhari he could not find evidence of wrongdoing against Adoke, advising the president to authorise the dropping of all pending charges against him.
A Nigerian court also ruled that Adoke could not be punished or prosecuted for official actions he took while in office based on presidential directives.
Authorities in Nigeria, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States have conducted several investigations into the contoversial transaction. While Shell and Agip continue to deny any wrongdoing, both oil giants are currently standing trial in Italy over the matter.
The EFCC dismissed Malami’s position and continued efforts to bring Adoke back to Nigeria to face charges. In April 2019, the anti-graft agency secured a court warrant for Adoke’s arrest.
Based on the warrant, the Nigerian government in August 2019 secured an Interpol red notice asking Adoke to be taken into custody if sighted in any jurisdiction.
But in October, the warrant was nullified by the same judge that issued it, giving Adoke renewed confidence to continue to sojourn in foreign lands.
Unknown to Adoke, the Nigerian government did not withdraw the red notice issued against him after the warrant was quashed.
Once he stepped into the UAE on November 11, he was arrested by Interpol and handed over to the country’s authorities who then illegally held him for five weeks.
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