OPL 245 is probably the most well-known oil block to be awarded by the Nigerian government more for the legal disputes and international arbitrations, with regard to its acquisition and ownership involving the Federal Government of Nigeria, Shell and Malabu Oil as well as a large cast of actors across courts in Nigeria, United States, United Kingdom and. Italy.
Whereas OPL 245, a versatile, deep water offshore asset off the Niger Delta was one of other similar licenses awarded to encourage indigenous participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, it is caught in a complex web of scandals, allegations of corruption, bribery, and so much melodrama in and out of the courtrooms.
In an earlier book titled: “Burden of Service”, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) had written among other things, on this controversial Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL), or what is also known as “Malabugate”; in the present book, a sequel to his first book, he focusses on the OPL 245 in an extensive and comprehensive account of the allegations about his role, the burden that he has had to endure in terms of what he calls “clinical persecution” (p. 149), or “the lies and lies and more lies” (p. 153) that were told against him, and his eventual vindication.
Adoke’s OPL 245, is by his own admission, “therapeutic”, a book that needed to be written, to set the records straight, for posterity and to clear his name through a documentation of facts and circumstances. Adoke was Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, April 2010 – June 2015. At the time the OPL 245 saga began in 2003, he was not yet in government, nor was he either when the block was revoked by the Obasanjo government on July 2, 2001, or when a Settlement Agreement was signed in 2006. But when he was appointed AGF/Minister of Justice in 2010, OPL 245 became one of the matters he inherited as Attorney General (p. 23). It was during this period that the Jonathan administration confirmed the award of OPL 245 to Malabu, This author is very clear in stating that the politicisation of OPL 245 was caused by former President Olusegun Obasanjo “who woke up one morning and set OPL 245 on fire” )…he revoked the block without giving any reasons..(p.21), resulting in a series of litigations involving NNPC, Malabu and Shell. which stalled the development of the asset.
One of Adoke’s first assignments as AGF/Minister of Justice was to help unpack the logjam, and he had advised that the 2006 Settlement Agreement was binding on the Federal Government. In the Resolution Agreement that was arrived at in April 2011, Shell and Nigeria Agip Exploration Ltd. (NAE) would pay $1.3 billion into an escrow account with J. P. Morgan in London, while Malabu would receive $1.092 billion as compensation as “full and final settlement.” As the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, Adoke was convinced that he had given the government proper advice in the circumstances. This book is about the twists and turns that he would have to deal with later. The exact nature of the burden of service that he has spoken about is laid bare in this book.
On May 29, 2015, after the Jonathan administration had left office, and the Muhammadu Buhari administration had been sworn in, Adoke said he received messages from those in the know that he was going to be hounded by the new government. He was in fact advised to leave town. He heeded the advice, but more specifically to proceed for further studies at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. His travails soon began. He was accused of taking a bribe of N300 million (US$2.2 m) from the OPL 245 agreement, or another $801 million money, laundering and abuse of office.
Adoke insists on his innocence. Nonetheless, he remained in exile, from May 29, 2015 till December 19, 2019, in-between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed cases against him in court, his name was mentioned in legal disputes in Italy, the US and the UK, his apartment was raided in the Netherlands, his houses were searched in Nigeria, a Warrant of Arrest was issued against him internationally, leading to his arrest and detention for 35 days by INTERPOL in Dubai, UAE, upon his return to Nigeria, he spent another 55 days in EFCC detention, he was even interrogated over the P&ID matter, and it was not until April 2024 that he was fully cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing in Nigerian courts, resulting in his vindication. Thus, he has had to suffer for about eight years, with threats to his life and well-being.
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