The family of the late head of state, General Sani Abacha, has dismissed the federal government’s claim that all court cases relating to the ownership of the oil exploration company Malabu Oil and Gas have been resolved.
The family dismissed the alleged claim by the minister of state for petroleum resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, at a public function in Abuja.
In a protest letter against the claim written by Reuben Atabo (SAN), the Abacha family issued a 14-day ultimatum to Lokpobiri to withdraw the alleged false claim or face contempt of court charges.
In the protest letter received at the AGF and Oil Minister’s offices on July 5, the Abacha family averred that Lokpobiri’s claim at the opening session of the “Nigerian Oil and Gas Energy Week” was false, spurious, unfounded, and an affront to the courts, where several cases on ownership of Malabu Oil and Gas are still pending.
Lokpobiri was reported to have said that the ongoing negotiations to end the disputes surrounding Oil Mining License (OML 245) have been concluded and that the oil block will resume production in the national interest.
The Abacha family was said to be the owner of the deepwater OML 245 oil block located in the southern Niger Delta, but in 2001, the federal government under former President Olusegun Obasanjo revoked Malabu’s license to the oil block.
In 2006, Malabu challenged the revocation in court but the matter was settled out-of-court with the government under former President Umaru Yar’Adua.
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