BEVERLY HILLS, December 19, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Mohammed Bello Adoke, has departed the United Arab Emirates for Nigeria, after he was freed by the Interpol outpost in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
He had been arrested by Interpol on arrival in Dubai on the morning of November 11 when he went for his medicals and was held for five weeks.
Interpol was executing a warrant of arrest issued against Adoke — even though it had been quashed.
His arrest followed an Interpol red alert which the Nigerian government had issued against him as part of the ongoing litigation over the controversial Malabu Oil deal.
But the UAE authorities freed him after Nigeria failed to provide legal basis and other requisite bilateral supports to justify his continued detention.
It was gathered that Dubai police made Adoke sign an undertaking that he chose to return to Nigeria on his own without pressure from them or anybody else
The undertaking signed by Adoke with the police read: “I would go to NIGERIA authorities to solve my problem, and without any stress or pressure from Dubai Police or anyone.”
Adoke has always maintained that the EFCC case against him is political, that he did nothing wrong in the OPL 245 affair.
In his book, “Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General”, he said all he did was to give legal advice on the validity of a court-ordered settlement in 2006 between the federal government and Malabu over the disputed all block.
He said not a kobo of the money touched his hand as the loan was paid directly to the developer by the bank and the developer refunded the money directly to the bank when Adoke failed to complete the payment.
