My role in Malabu Oil deal, by Adoke

FORMER Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke has described the mention of his name in the festering Malabu Oil deal as blackmail and an attempt at rubbishing his name.

In a letter dated December 31, 2015 which was made available to The Guardian, Adoke had said that the issue of Malabu predated his tenure as minister but that he had only worked to facilitate the payment of $180 million as compensation to Nigeria even when it was obvious that with the provision of the country’s laws at the time, Nigeria wouldn’t have got only pittance.

He alleged that some powers had wanted to use him to serve their selfish interests and because he was not yielding, the matter was brought up to persecute him.

On the facts of the matter, he said Oil Prospecting License (OPL) 245 was granted to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited by the administration of General Sani   Abacha,  1998 and was subsequently revoked by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2001and re- allocated to Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) in 2002 under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) arrangement; that aggrieved over the revocation, Malabu petitioned the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum. After a public hearing, the House condemned the revocation and re- allocation to SNUD and recommended that the block be restored to Malabu.

He added that Malabu also sued the government and SNUD claiming several declaratory reliefs including an order setting aside the re-allocation to SNUD and a restoration of the block to Malabu.
“The suit was struck out but on appeal, the parties entered into a settlement dated 30th November 2006 which were executed by my predecessor in office, Chief Bayo Ojo.”

He said a  key term of the settlement was the restoration of Oil block 245 to Malabu by the government even as he maintained that pursuant to the Terms of Settlement,President Olusegun   Obasanjo in 2006 rescinded his earlier revocation and restored    the Oil block 245 to Malabu but not before SNUD had already “expended huge resources of over $500 million to de-risk the oil block under the existing arrangement with the government and had found oil in commercial quantities.

This was in spite of the pending litigation instituted by Malabu; that Shell was equally aggrieved over the unilateral revocation of the block by the Federal Government and commenced arbitration proceedings at the International Center for Settlement of
Investment Disputes (ICSID) claiming over $2 billion from government for breach of contract, loss of investment and special damages.

He said, it was under the above circumstances that as AGF he encouraged a definitive resolution between the parties who themselves had expressed an intention to settle but were untrusting of each other given their antecedents.