Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Bello Adoke, has given his successor, Abubakar Malami, seven days ultimatum over alleged defamatory depositions in an English court over the Process and Industrial Development (P&ID) arbitration hearing.
Adoke cited an affidavit which alleged that he and officials of former President Goodluck Jonathan made representation to Justice David Steele of the English Commercial Court that the Nigerian government approved the release of a freezing injunction on the $1billion balance of Malabu OPL 245 with JP Morgan’s depository account, which was allegedly shared by the officials.
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In a letter by his counsel, Paul Erokoro served on Malami, on Wednesday, Adoke demanded Malami retract the “false evidence that you gave the English court” and apologise within seven days.
“Our client demands that you instruct your counsel in England to move the English Court to redact the records of that Court and remove the offensive references to our client,” Erokoro said.
“Our client demands that you propose appropriate monetary compensation for the violation of his constitutional rights and for the damage to his reputation,” he added.
Adoke further alleged that Malami accused him of corruption in paragraphs 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th witness statements filed on December 5, 2019, January 22, March 6, and June 8, 2020 respectively.
When contacted, Malami, through his media aide, Umar Gwandu, said he had no knowledge of the letter yet, noting that “when we receive it, we shall respond appropriately to it.”
