Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Mohammed Bello Adoke, Mohammed Adoke, has been freed by the Interpol outpost in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is on his way to Nigeria, Igbere TV reports.
Igbere TV recalls that Adoke was arrested on arrival in Dubai by the Interpol on November 11. He was in the country for his medicals.
The former AGF was arrested following a warrant of arrest issued against him which was eventually quashed.
Following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory issued the warrant on April 17, 2019, but vacated the order on October 25, 2019.
It was learnt that while Interpol got the arrest warrant, Nigerian authorities did not transmit the order vacating the warrant.
Adoke’s successor, Abubakar Malami, allegedly refused to confirm that the warrant had been vacated after Adoke’s lawyers sought his confirmation for Adoke to be freed.
Adoke was then made to sign an agreement which ensured that he voluntarily return to Nigeria without pressure from Dubai police, a document obtained by Igbere TV revealed.
The former AGF is expected to arrive in Nigeria Thursday afternoon.
EFCC alleges that Adoke was culpable in the controversial deal involving the payment of $1.1 billion by Shell and Agip-Eni to purchase Nigeria’s OPL 245, a lucrative oil field.
Adoke, however, said in his book, Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General, that he did no wrong and is being witch-hunted.
The anti-graft agency also says a former petroleum minister during late Sani Abacha’s regime, Dan Etete, who was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007, received a large chunk of the payment.
Adoke left the country after former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over in 2015.
He travelled to the Netherlands for a graduate study in international criminal law.
