Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday said ex-attorney-general of the federation (AGF) during his administration, Mohammed Adoke, was hunted globally during the oil prospecting lease (OPL) case.
Speaking in Abuja during the public presentation of Adoke’s memoir titled ‘OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3 billion Nigerian Oil Block,’ Jonathan said Adoke’s memoir upheld the truth.
He regretted that shortly after his tenure ended in 2015, “the succeeding government launched what many people saw as a manhunt against key officers” of his administration.
“The author of this memoir, Mr. Bello Adoke, was the attorney-general of the federation at that time. He was hunted across the globe,” the former President, who was represented by Pius Anyim, former senate president, said.
“But today, he’s alive, he’s healthy, he’s here to tell his story. Let me, therefore, use this occasion to congratulate Mr. Bello Adoke, my friend and my brother, for his doggedness and to say that I am pleased to join you in celebrating this victory.
He urged “all of us” to be conscious of the fact that power belongs to God.
Jonathan said the best anyone who is blessed with the opportunity of holding public office should do is to commit to the assignment and use the opportunity to uphold truth, justice, and fairness.
“I am to state, as always, that it is acknowledged among all civilisations that any society or organisation that does not promote justice and fairness will neither have peace nor make progress,” he said.
“The essence of the author’s effort in documenting his memoir is not only to put the record straight, but to contribute to the cause of truth and justice as the foremost pillars of nation building.”
The former President stated how proud he was of Adoke, and congratulated the former AGF for the “wisdom and the courage to put down his own side of the story in the book we are about to present today”.
OPL 245 was awarded to Malabu Oil and Gas in 1998 by the Sani Abacha administration.
However, the block later became the focus of global corruption investigations, criminal prosecutions, and civil lawsuits after Malabu sold its entire stake to Shell and Eni for $1.1 billion in 2011.
The oil companies also paid a $210 million signature bonus to the Nigerian government.
