A former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke, has claimed that ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo revoked the Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) No 245 in July 2001 and awarded it to Shell because the block’s owners refused to cede a 60 per cent stake.
Speaking on Tuesday during a reading of his new book, ‘OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3bn Nigerian Oil Block,’ Adole claimed that high-profile individuals were after the proceeds of the oil block, resulting in a “dog-eat-dog” situation, which led to the reason the licence was revoked.
Naijaonpoint reports that OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu in 1998 by the regime of the late Sani Abacha, but it became a subject of global corruption investigations, criminal prosecution and civil cases across the world after the Nigerian company sold its entire interest for $1.1 billion to Shell and Eni in 2011.
The oil companies also paid $210 million as a signature bonus to the federation.
At the time, it was reported that Obasanjo revoked OPL 245’s license primarily due to irregularities in its original allocation and opaque shareholding linked to the former Petroleum Minister, Dan Etete, who had fronted the Malabu deal.
In a 2017 interview, Obasanjo denied knowledge of the deal.
Adoke was one of many officials caught up in the saga after the late former President Muhammadu Buhari filed criminal charges against him.
However, the former attorney-general was discharged and acquitted of the related charges filed before two federal high courts in Abuja.
Speaking during his book reading, Adoke said that Obasanjo had vowed to apologise to him if he could show proof that he approved the deal. But failed to do so when he published the documents.
“Some people in government wanted to acquire 60 percent stake in OPL 245. And so, because the owners did not want to relinquish 60 percent was the real reason why OPL 245 was revoked.
“And those people who came forward to even try to buy a stake were known associates of Obasanjo, Atiku… but I don’t want to ruffle any feathers,” Adoke said.
He said the former president’s actions were an error of judgment.
“He didn’t act in the best interest of Nigeria,” the former AGF said.
Adoke took a swipe at the former president, suggesting that Obasanjo’s denial of approving the licence may be due to amnesia.
“He was the one that signed off the resolution agreement, he was the one that gave the approval, and so when he made that denial and said Adoke was lying against him, the next day I published in several Nigerian newspapers documents showing that he gave the approval.
“He had said that ‘If Adoke can show that I gave the approval I would apologise to him’. I said he acted irresponsibly, in a manner that was not befitting of a statesman and exercised poor judgement because when that document came, he refused to apologise to Nigeria and kept quiet,” Adoke said.
Adoke said all he wanted from the former president is an apology for damaging his reputation.