Activists Ask EFCC To Drop Case Against Adoke After New Revelations

The Justice and Equity Forum (JEF) has asked the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to withdraw its case against Mr
Mohammed Bello Adoke, former Attorney-General of the Federation, in
the light of new revelations at the ongoing OPL 245/Malabu trials
in Milan, Italy.

In a statement signed by the co-conveners, Alhaji Idris Kainji
and Comrade Adebowale Peters, the civil rights organisation also
said that in the money laundering case filed against Adoke at the
Federal High Court, Abuja, by the EFCC, “there is not a single
mention of OPL 245 and Malabu in the court papers and this must be
considered curious under any circumstance”.

The Forum, however, commended Mr Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC
chairman, for the progress Nigeria has recorded in the anti-graft
war under his watch but said Magu, like all human beings, is not
perfect and should be supported and encouraged by all Nigerians in
discharging his duties no matter whose ox is gored.

The group said: “On Wednesday, the 17th of July, in Milan,
Italy, Mr Vincenzo Armanna, the former ENI manager who is standing
trial over the Malabu scandal, told the court that Adoke warned ENI
officials against discussing kickbacks and threatened them with
arrest. This is the same Adoke that is being accused of collecting
kickback from the deal. That doesn’t add up at all,” the group
said.

“We also note that on Thursday, 27th of June, Mr. Ednan Tofik
ogly Agaev, a former Russian diplomat who is also being tried over
the scandal, told the Italian court that he was pressured under
interrogation by the FBI to mention Adoke’s name as one of the
recipients of the bribes reportedly paid to government officials in
the deal. In fact, Agaev refused to adopt the FBI interview in
court because, according to him, he did not mean for it to be used.
He effectively confessed making a false accusation against Adoke.
In a court of law, this will certainly kill the case except there
is anything else to it.

“We at the Justice and Equity Forum thereafter applied for and
got a certified true copy of court papers in the case filed against
Adoke by the EFCC at the Federal High Court in Abuja alleging money
laundering. We went through the charges line by line and to our
utmost surprise, nowhere did the EFCC mention that Adoke collected
bribe. Yet what the EFCC continues to tell the public is that Adoke
is on trial for collecting $2.2 million bribe from the Malabu deal.
Nowhere in the court papers does EFCC make any reference to bribe
or Malabu. This is very strange.

“As a human rights body, we cannot close our eyes to these
facts. We fully support the EFCC in its Malabu investigations but
charges should be based on verifiable facts, not on circumstantial
and weak grounds. Adoke has said in several newspaper interviews
that the powerful toes he stepped upon when he was in office are
the ones now using the EFCC to fight him. Whether or not he stepped
on toes, if he has done any wrong, he should not run away. He
should come back home and face trial. That is our position.
However, he seems justified to cry political vendetta in the Malabu
case because the court case does not accuse him of collecting a
bribe, yet that is not the impression being given to
Nigerians.”

The Forum also commended the EFCC for donating a property
forfeited by the late Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall
Alex Badeh, to the Voice of Nigeria (VON).

“We recommend that all forfeited properties should be taken over
by government agencies. That will save us the cost of paying rents
every year, which by our calculations run into billions of naira.
We, however, urge the EFCC to make sure due process is followed in
dealing with forfeited properties. We are not sure the EFCC has the
power to take a property belonging to the federation and hand it
over to someone else. It is a commendable initiative that must be
rooted on legal grounds. If EFCC does not have such powers, then
the right thing must be done. If any law has to be amended, then is
should be amended,” the Forum said.