AGF Adoke's letter dated 31-12-2015 is after my e-note to all here.
His was addressed to VP Yemi Osibajo long since Dec 2015?
In the event of the rank of SAN being scrapped or banned,
Imagine how many senior lawyers would have a brand name?
Address some remove SAN rank, still has a brand outside SAN.
Let each Lawyer sell his or her 'trade name'. Disband this suffix!!
Meanwhile, suspend the Silk award forthwith!
String SAN right now!
Thank you
CA
31st
December 2015
His
Excellency,
Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, GCON
Vice
President,
Federal
Republic of Nigeria,
Aso
Rock,
Abuja.
Your
Excellency,
RE: RESOLUTION
OF THE DISPUTE BETWEEN SHELL ULTRA DEEP NIGERIA LIMITED, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
OF NIGERIA (FGN) AND MALABU OIL & GAS LIMITED IN RESPECT OF OPL 245 NOW
SUBJECT OF INVESTIGATION BY THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (EFCC)
May I respectfully draw Your Excellency’s
esteemed attention to the above subject matter which is now a subject of
investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and to
present the true facts in so far as they concern the official and professional role
played by the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice (HAGF) during my tenure. This has become necessary in order
to set the records straight in view of the spurious allegations, mischievous
and misleading publications on the subject matter in the media (particularly
the online media).
2. Your Excellency may please note that except
for those whose sole intentions are to denigrate and impugn my integrityfor
resisting attempts to use the Office of the HAGF to further narrow selfish
business interests, the transaction aforementioned was legitimate, transparent
and well documented, and above all, self explanatory. I trust therefore that
this brief will afford you the opportunity to dispassionately examine the
records and come to a fair and just assessment of the matter.
3.
A few weeks ago, I was informed
through the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF)
that the Federal Ministry of Justice was in receipt of a letter from the EFCC
inviting me to its office for an interview on the Malabu Oil Transaction with
Shell/ENI. I was however unable to immediately honour that invitation as I was
writing my end of semester examinations at the University of Leiden, in the
Netherlands where I am currently studying for an Advanced LL.M Degree in Public
International Law. I therefore requested that the invitation be deferred to
28th December 2015 pending the completion of my examination.
4. However, on deep reflection, I found the
invitation rather curious, unconventional and mischievous especially as I acted
purely in an official capacity and the EFCC could easily have had recourse to
the sitting HAGF for clarifications since the records were in the Federal
Ministry of Justice as government is a continuum. I therefore phoned the HAGF
and notified him of the development and offered a detail explanation of what had
transpired. I also impressed on him the need to protect the office from
unwarranted attacks and machinations of those out to destroy it in view of its
unique constitutional role in governance. I followed up by sending him a
written brief with a copy of the attached Comprehensive
Position Paper to enable him familiarise himself with the transaction in
the event that official files in the Federal Ministry of Justice could not, for
one reason or the other, be easily traced.
5. It was after this development that I was
made to understand that there were plans by some individuals who had become
aware that I would be honouring the invitation of the EFCC on 28thDecember2015
to humiliate me. I was also informed that these individuals had enlisted a
notorious online media (Sahara Reporters) to smear my name with allegations of
corruption and bribery and that some agents of the Abacha family and one Lawal
Abba acting for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President were behind the
scheme. According to the information, their motive was predicated on the
following:
(a) the claim that they were shareholders in
Malabu Oil & Gas Limited and had
been short-changed by the main shareholder of
the company, and
(b)
that I had refused to use my official
position as Attorney General of the
Federation to help them get their dues from the main shareholder.
6. Your Excellency, as preposterous as
these assertions were, I was forced to give credence to them when on 27th December
2015, Sahara Reporters and Premium Times published that I was scheduled to appear
for interrogation at the EFCC on 28th December 2015 and will thereafter be
detained and charged to court. It was also falsely published that I was
involved in the Halliburton bribery scandal, when the said scandal predated my
tenure. It will be recalled that it was during my tenure that the Office of the
Attorney General of the Federation in collaboration with the office of the
National Security Adviser (NSA) under the leadership of General Aliyu Gusau and
the EFCC proceeded against the Companies that were involved in the bribery
scandal and got them to pay reparations for ‘reputational damage’ to the
country totaling almost $180 Million even when by the penal sanctions contained
in our laws, the companies could only have paid pittance. The records are there
to show what was achieved and that the monies were paid into the Federal
Government accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
7. It is apparent from these publications
that the intention is not necessarily the clarifications sought by the EFCC but
a carefully orchestrated plan for my assured unjustified persecution,
humiliation and disgrace by a known group with interest in the Malabu matter that
are aggrieved over my official role in the resolution of the case. The said
group has now joined forces with those desperate to malign me by using the
present investigation by the EFCC to humiliate my person. My refusal to take a
particular position they had sought and impressed upon me after the resolution
of the matter was concluded is the root of all this blackmail.
8. Your Excellency, I make bold to state that
any responsible Attorney General of the Federation would have done what I did to
safeguard the interest of the country and avoid a liability that potentially
stood against the country. It is in this regard that I respectfully urge Your
Excellency to carefully consider and ascertain from the documentation supplied,
the following facts:
(i) that Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 was
granted to Malabu Oil & Gas Limited by the administration of
General Sani Abacha, GCFR in
1998;
(ii) that OPL 245 was subsequently revoked by
the administration of President Olusegun
Obasanjo, GCFR in 2001and re- allocated to Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited
(SNUD) in 2002 under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC)
arrangement;
(iii) that at the time of revocation and re-award,
Malabu and SNUD had a binding Joint
Operating Agreement to exploit the block
with SNUD as technical partner to the Venture;
(iv)
that aggrieved over the revocation, Malabu
petitioned the House of
Representatives Committee on Petroleum. After a public hearing, the
House condemned the revocation and re- allocation to SNUD and
recommended that the
block be restored to Malabu;
(v) that Malabu also sued the FGN and SNUD at
the FHC in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2003
claiming several declaratory reliefs including
an order setting aside the re-allocation to SNUD and a restoration of the block to Malabu. The suit was struck out
but on appeal, the parties entered into
a settlement dated 30th November
2006 which were executed by my predecessor in office,
Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, CON;
(vi) that the Terms of Settlement were filed in
court as consent judgment and
a key term in the settlement was the restoration of the Oil block 245 to Malabu by the FGN;
(vii) that pursuant to the Terms of Settlement, President
Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006 rescinded his
earlier revocation and restored the Oil
block 245 to Malabu;
(viii) that at this time SNUD had already expended
huge resources of over $500 million to de-risk the Oil
block under the existing arrangement with the FGN and had found
oil in commercial quantities. This was inspite of the
pending litigation instituted by Malabu;
(ix) that Shell was equally aggrieved over the
unilateral revocation of the block
by the FGN and commenced Arbitration proceedings
at the International Center for Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID) claiming over $2 billion from the FGN for breach of contract, loss of investment and special damages;
(x) that It was under the above circumstances
that I, as AGF encouraged a
definitive resolution between the parties who themselves
had expressed an intention to settle but were untrusting
of each other given their antecedents;
(xi) that title on OPL 245at the date of
settlement in 2006 and the Resolution Agreement in
2011 vested exclusively in Malabu subject only to the terms
and conditions in the allocation;
(xii) that the interest of the FGN at the time
of resolution in 2011was to ensure the payment of the signature
bonus on the block and that the block was developed to enable
the country earn revenue through royalty and taxes;
(xiii)
that consistent with Nigerian law governing
oil and gas and the allocation
of oil blocks, the signature bonus due and payable to the FGN amounting
to $210 million was duly paid and acknowledged. The taxes and
royalties
associated with oil produced from
the block are also now being paid. This is contrary
to the lies and misinformation being peddled that Nigeria was
short changed in the transaction.
(xiv)
that at all times material to the resolution
of the disputes between Malabu/Shell/FGN one
Mohammed Sani who now claims to be
Mohammed Abacha was not a party to the transaction
and did not disclose any personal or family interest in OPL
245 to the administration of Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR or to the
administration of President Olusegun
Obasanjo GCFR;
(xv) that Mohammed Abacha did not participate in
the negotiations leading to the
resolution or settlement agreements;
(xvi)
that Mr. Abacha surfaced only after the tripartite
resolution of the matter between
Shell/Malabo and the FGN to request that the
Office of the Attorney General of the Federation should prevail
on the main shareholder of Malabu to respect their interests in
Malabu by paying them part
of the proceeds;
(xvii) that rather than use the courts to resolve
their internal company issues in
Malabu, they have resorted to the use of the apparatus
of state to settle scores with imaginary perceived enemies;
9. Your Excellency would upon an objective
determination of the distilled issues come to the irrebuttable conclusion that at
all times material to the resolution of the dispute, conscious efforts were
made by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice to safeguard national interest. Furthermore, in the negotiations, the office
of the Attorney General ensured that all relevant MDAs including the Department
of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were represented and participated to
ensure compliance with extant laws and processes.
10. It is therefore incorrect and contrary
to as widely claimed in some quarters that the money that was paid to Malabu,
which was only warehoused in an escrow account, was meant for the Nigerian
Government and that the country was thereby shortchanged. Malabu as title-holder
of the oil block merely dispensed of her interest in it as allowed by law. This
indeed is the case with similar oil blocks allocated to several notable
Nigerians who also disposed of their interests to oil multinationals and are
enjoying the proceeds without any eyebrow or allegations of corruption.
11. Your Excellency, I have explained in detail
the history of the transaction trusting that you are in a better position as a
one-time Attorney General of Lagos State and the current Vice President to
objectively appraise the situation and brief the President truthfully so as to discourage
the lies being peddled by mischief makers. This will not only bring my
persecution to an end, but also protect the institution that the exalted office
of the Attorney General of the Federation represents as well as guarantee its
independence and prevent its destruction on the altar of political expediency.
12. I am not unmindful of the need for
public officers to be held accountable for their service. In this respect, if Shell
and or ENI have infracted on the laws of their home countries either by non-disclosures
and or tax evasion, our duty is to assist their home governments if requested
to ascertain the truth but not to undeservedly criminalize our public office
holders to satisfy the narrow and selfish interest of shareholders fighting
over assets of their company.
13. While thanking Your Excellency for your patience
and valuable time, I want to assure you that I discharged my duties as the
Chief Law Officer of the Federation with conviction, integrity and candor
striving at all times to protect national interest. While I acknowledge that I
am human and not infallible, I remain very proud of my record of service as Attorney
General of the Federation.
14. Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances
of my highest regards and personal esteem.
Yours sincerely,
MR. MOHAMMED
BELLO ADOKE, SAN, CFR
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