I never said Malabu was a presidential scam – Adoke

Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), has debunked media reports credited to him that Malabu Oil Deal was a “presidential scam.”

An online media platform had reported that Mr. Adoke granted a press interview to an Italian journalist, wherein he (Adoke) allegedly disclosed that the Malabu Oil Deal payment was a presidential scam.

However, the former AGF in a statement made available to journalists over the weekend debunked the allegations as published by the online medium describing the report as false, malicious and an attempt to tarnish his image.

Adoke said that he never met with the so-called Italian journalist, let alone granting a telephone interview that attributed the false claims to him.

“I never said that Malabu Oil Deal was a Presidential Scam. The malicious publication was a figment of the writer’s imagination as conceived and hatched by his paymasters, whom it was designed to please.

“The fictitious news report was equally designed to down play the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which absolved me of any wrongdoing in the Malabu transaction” Adoke stated.

The statement Adoke issued read in part: “My attention has been drawn to the above captioned publication by one Samuel Ogundipe in the Premium Times of May 5, 2018.

The publication which can at best be described as ‘fake news’ is nothing but an elaborate attempt at dressing up falsehood to pass as truth and substituting reality with fiction in order to misinform undiscerning members of the public, denigrate my person and cause disaffection and ill-will between me and my principal, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR who gave me the rare opportunity to serve this great country in the capacity of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

“The false and malicious publication by Samuel Ogundipe placed heavy reliance on a so called recorded telephone call placed by one Carlarmaria Rumor of RAI Television in Italy on November 5 2015 wherein I was quoted to have stated that:”

Dan Etete collaborated with some Italian Oil workers to divert some funds to foreign accounts in an illegal move that betrayed the spirit of a tripartite agreement which the Nigerian Government entered into with Italian oil giant Agip-Eni and Royal Dutch Shell on the one hand and Malabu Oil and Gas limited on the other hand.”

“I want to place it on record that I did not grant any telephone interview to Carlamaria Rumor or any other person in respect of OPL 245 Settlement Agreement.

The said Carla Maria is unknown to me, has never spoken to me and I could therefore not have granted her a 1 hour 17 minutes phone interview. I have checked RAI Television website, but the said Carla maria Rumor is not listed either as a TV or print journalist with RAI Television.

This is clearly a case of a phantom RAI journalist that exists only in the figment of the imagination of Samuel Ogundipe. Furthermore, Micheal Nomah whom Ogundipe claims to have contacted to react to his fake story is also unknown to me and has never represented me on any legal issue.

“Ogundipe’s malice and mischief became quite evident when he stated in his publication that: “Mr Adoke, AGF from 2010-2015, admitted that Mr Etete, an ex-convict, was actively involved in the talks held between Nigerian government officials, representatives of Agip-Eni, Shell and other players.

This indicates that Mr Adoke recognised Mr Etete as the owner of Malabu Oil and Gas and dealt with him accordingly, thereby sidestepping Mohammed Abacha and other beneficial owners of the controversial oil firm, “thereby giving the impression that I deliberately choose to deal with Dan Etete to the exclusion of other known beneficial owners of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.

“He however did not reckon with the fact that since 2001, Dan Etete had been the only person that engaged successive governments on behalf of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.

He was effectively the alter ego of the company to knowledge of all government officials involved in the negotiation and implementation of OPL 245 Settlement Agreement.

Mr. Mohammed Abacha only appeared on the scene when the Settlement Agreement had been executed and implemented. However, realising that his claims to part ownership of the shares in Malabu Oil and Gas Limited amounted to a shareholder dispute, I accordingly advised him to go to court to assert his claims as the court was the only proper forum to effectively resolve such shareholder dispute,” the statement read.