Nine top Nigerian politicians and ex-presidents have been named in one of the greatest oil scams ever in the world which took place in Nigeria which involved the acquisition of the exploration licence for an offshore oil block known as OPL 245.
$1.2 billion was paid to Malabu Oil and Gas for the procurement of one of Nigeria’s richest oil fields, OPL 245 by Shell and Eni, which was then reportedly used to bribe Nigerian politicians and intermediaries who helped to secure the controversial deal has been a hot topic for discussion.
Here are some of notorious Nigerian politicians whose names are mentioned in the deal according to Naij:
1. Dan Etete: Dan Etete was born on January 25, 1945 and he was a former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum. In 1995 under military dictator General Sani Abacha, he reportedly facilitated the transfer of payment of $1.1bn to a fake company he set up before. The fake company, Malabu Oil and Gas was set up in 1998 by Etete reportedly using a false identity, so as to award himself a lucrative oil block, OPL245, for which he paid only $2m of the $20m legally required by the state.
2. Goodluck Jonathan: Italian prosecutors of the Malabu case quoted Ednan Agaev, a Russian middleman who helped negotiate the transfer of the oil block to Shell and Eni, as saying that Dan Etete, the former Petroleum Minister at the heart of the oil scandal, said he intended to dole out as much as $400 million in bribes if the deal went through. If Mr Etete actually paid out such an amount in bribes to Nigerian officials, then they think President Goodluck Jonathan got at least $200 million of this money.
3. Mohammed Abacha: Mohammed Abacha the son of Nigeria’s military ruler Sani Abacha is a Director and the largest shareholder of Malabu Oil Gas Limited.
4. Diezani Alison-Madueke: Diezani Alison-Madueke, the immediate past petroleum minister, was also allegedly given a bribe in the $1.2 billion deal involving ENI and Royal Dutch Shell.
5. Mohammed Bello Adoke: Former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Adoke reportedly transferred over $800 million, purportedly meant for the purchase of the OPL 245 to former petroleum resources minister, Dan Etete, who is also believed to be the owner of Malabu Oil.
6. Austen Oniwon: The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Austin Oniwon was reportedly a signatory to the Malabu deal.
7. Bayo Ojo: According to Adoke, the Terms of Settlement for the Malabu oil deal, which was later reduced to a Consent Judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was brokered by predecessor in office, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) and signed on behalf of the Federal Government of by the then Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Edmund Daukoru, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
8. Edmund Daukoru: It was alleged that Obasanjo gave approval for return of the oil bloc to Malabu through his then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Edmund Daukoru.
9. Olusegun Obasanjo: It has been alleged that the Malabu oil deal started off its dubious contracts under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Although the former president has denied the accusation. Meanwhile, although former president, Goodluck Jonathan, has dismissed a report which suggested that he received the sum of $200 million as bribe from the Malabu oil deal, Nigerians are reacting furiously to the allegation. The report which was published by an American news website, Buzzfeed, claimed Jonathan probably received as much as $200 million to approve the controversial $1.3 billion sale of OPL 245 oil field. Reacting to the accusation, the former president in a statement on Tuesday, April 11, by Ikechukwu Eze, his media adviser, described the report as fake news.
