For the second time in three months, former President Goodluck Jonathan Thursday visited President Muhammadu Buhari in the State House. Jonathan, who arrived at the Presidential Villa and was ushered into the president’s office, met with Buhari behind closed doors for only 16 minutes.
At the end of the meeting, the president accompanied his predecessor from his office down to the fore court of the Presidential Villa, where he boarded his car and left. There was no information about the reason for Jonathan’s visit as journalists were not even allowed to accost the former president to ask questions. Jonathan had made similar visits to Buhari on October 10, 2019 and met with Buhari for only five minutes after which he left hurriedly.
The visit came after Justice Idris Kutigi of Abuja High Court on Thursday ordered the arrest of former Nigeria petroleum minister Dan Etete over his alleged involvement in the fraudulent Malabu Oil deal.
The prosecutor, Bala Sanga, in an ex-parte application informed the court that Etete’s arrest is pivotal to unravelling the details of the oil deal. Justice Kutigi granted the request and ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu to arrest Etete.
The ex-parte application was brought pursuant to Section 3, 35, 36 and 37 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015. Justice Kutigi in granting the arrest order noted that it was imperative to do so in the interest of justice. The anti-graft agency in an eight-paragraph affidavit, told the court that the order is needed to enable it arrest and extradite the defendants for prosecution over their alleged complicity in the Malabu oil deal. The commission held that the charges against the three suspects involve over $1.09 billion Malabu Oil Block (OPL 245) Settlement Agreement, adding that there is prema facie evidence against them.
According to the commission, Etete, Seidougha, Amaran (all at large) sometime in 2013, in Abuja, dishonestly used as genuine the forged form CAC 7 and Board Resolution of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited and the letter of resignation of one Mohammed Sani, which they then knew to be forged documents, to open a bank account No. 2018288005 to receive $401,540,000.00 .
The commission also alleged that Seidougha, Amaran and (Dauzia Loya) Etete, sometime in 2013, in Abuja, “dishonestly used as genuine the forged form CAC 7 and Board Resolution of Malabu Oil and Gas Limited and the letter of resignation of one Mohammed Sani, which they then knew to be forged, documents to open a Bank Account No. 3610042472 to receive $400,540,000.00 (Four Hundred Thousand United States dollars)”.
The counsel of the EFCC, Bala Sanga, who moved the ex-parte motion, disclosed that the suspects are currently residing in France and in some Africa countries. Sanga further told the court that the suspects were occasionally sighted in different parts of Europe. He therefore prayed the court to issue a warrant of arrest, which is a pre-condition for the extradition of the suspects. In the affidavit in support of the ex-parte deposed to by one Ibrahim Ahmed, an Investigating Officer with the EFCC, Etete and the others are wanted because they are part of the brains behind Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.
In a related development, Justice Kutigi also granted a N50 million bail to former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, (SAN) in the Malabu fraud case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The judge upheld Adoke’s bail request and ordered him to produce a surety in like sum. Justice Kutigi also admitted Adoke’s co-defendants- Aliyu Abubakar and Rasky Gbinigie to bail pending the determination of EFCC’s corruption allegations against them.
While Adoke got bail of N50m, his co-defendant Gbinigie got bail of N10m. The judge said the sureties to both defendants must be responsible citizens, who must depose affidavits of means. Justice Kutigi said the sureties must be resident within the court’s jurisdiction and must own verifiable landed properties worth the bail sum.
Adoke is being charged alongside Gbinigie, A. Abubakar, Malabu Oil and Gas Limited, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited, Shell Ultra Deep Limited and Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Limited in an alleged fraudulent oil deal while he was a minister during President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The Nigerian government accused Adoke of receiving gratification to allegedly carry out the fraudulent oil deal. The government said Adoke mediated controversial agreements that ceded OPL 245 to Shell and Eni who paid about $1.1 billion dollars to accounts controlled by former petroleum minister Etete.
Adoke left Nigeria in 2015 after the Jonathan administration and returned into the country on Thursday, December 19, 2019, from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He was arrested by EFCC operatives at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. The EFCC said contrary to the Section 319A of the Penal Code of the federation of Nigeria 1990, Adoke unlawfully obtained about N300 million in US Dollars from the oil deal. Adoke has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
