In Nigeria, politics is more important than the law. Cases are delayed and you could be on trial for years even when you are innocent. Once you are marked out by the state as an adversary, the evidence does not matter. In December 2016, Mohammed Bello Adoke and eight others were formally charged at the Federal High Court, Abuja in respect of the OPL 245 transaction. His name was mentioned in two out of the nine charges, bordering on conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and money laundering.
By Reuben Abati
His name was further mentioned in cases in other jurisdictions – Italy and London, involving the Italian oil giant, Agip-Eni, Shell, and Malabu Oil and Gas. In 2020, the EFCC again filed another case against Mohammed Bello Adoke in the Federal High Court of Abuja accusing him of collecting N300 million gratification from the OPL 245 Transaction. In Burden of Service, Adoke has argued that the allegations against him were malicious, because as he put it:
“I did the best for my country. I saved my country from a certain liability of a $2 billion claim by Royal Dutch Shell at the International Centre for the Settlement of Disputes (ICSID), an organ of the World Bank. More so, the $210 million signature bonus paid for OPL 245 by Shell and Eni is the highest in the history of Nigeria. I did nothing wrong. I did not take a bribe, not even a cup of water, or a slice of cake. Along the line, the narrative about my role has been severely twisted, but the dust will settle someday and the whole truth will come out as straight as an arrow. Truth is so stubborn it refuses to give up until it triumphs.” Adoke did not fold his arms. He fought every challenge to his integrity in every court and in every jurisdiction. In the Nigerian courts, he and his lawyers made a “no case submission”.
In January 2024, the EFCC eventually admitted that it indeed had no evidence against Mohammed Bello Adoke and that it had no objection to his “no case submission”. This was after the EFCC had presented its case for three years and after calling 10 witnesses.
Last week, on March 27, the Federal Capital (FCT) High Court ruled definitively on the matter with Justice Abubakar Kutigi chastising the EFCC for filing frivolous charges against Adoke and six others. He commended the prosecution for conceding that it had no credible evidence to oppose the no-case application by Adoke and others but complained that the agency simply wasted four years and that the defendant should not have been charged in the first place. The prosecution failed to prove the essential elements of the offences for which the defendants were charged. His Lordship dismissed the EFCC case and admonished the EFCC not to file such frivolous charges in the future. In effect, the Nigerian government has lost all the cases it filed or in which it was joined in Italy, the UK, and even here in Nigeria about OPL 245.
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This is scandalous. It must be noted that in 2016, Adoke sought an order from the Federal High Court, Nigeria declaring that his involvement in the negotiation, execution, and implementation of the OPL 245 Resolution Agreements was in line with Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution and that he could not be held liable on personal grounds. The Court, notably, found in his favour. In 2021, the Italian Court in Milan discharged and acquitted all defendants in the OPL 245 case. Adoke was not on trial in Milan but his name was mentioned – another victory for him nonetheless. In 2022, the Federal Government further lost its case against Adoke and JP Morgan at the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court. At every turn, the Nigerian Government could not establish that any fraud had been committed in the OPL 245 transaction.
This is why this is a major triumph for all the defendants in the case. The full story of OPL 245 is in the public domain. Truth has now prevailed. Justice Kutigi spoke of the waste of four years by the EFCC. This is more than that. The EFCC and the Nigerian Government spent four years on a wild goose chase around the world from Italy to London and here in Nigeria, on the frivolous pursuit of a case in which they lacked evidence. Even when courts in Italy and London dismissed the OPL 245 case, Nigeria kept at it, looking for every opportunity to nail persons they had condemned before any trial. The justice system should not work like that. This is a very bad commentary on our justice administration system. Our justice system must never be used to settle personal or political scores.
In other parts of the world, before a person or an entity is charged to court, there would have been a diligent attempt to find and establish evidence and a prima facie case. Where this does not stand in the court of law, the matter is promptly dispensed with as seen in the handling of the OPL case in Italy and the UK. In Nigeria, politics is more important than the law. Cases are delayed and you could be on trial for years even when you are innocent. Once you are marked out by the state as an adversary, the evidence does not matter.
Mohammed Bello Adoke and others must count themselves lucky indeed. It is now possible to see reason in Adoke’s argument that he considers himself the target of a witch-hunt by the Nigerian government. I have singled him out to praise his resilience to get justice and prove his innocence. He serves as an example of why many Nigerians would rather stay away from public service. Justice Kutigi spoke of the EFCC wasting four years. I think that has to be calculated in real terms: the EFCC wasted the time of the court and wasted all the Nigerian resources spent in pursuit of a case that has now failed from one court to another.
Nigeria must learn to be fair and more diligent and professional in the prosecution of allegations of misdeeds.
The @NigeriaGov owes Adoke and all others in the OPL 245 case an apology.”
