The family of the late Military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha on Monday reacted to statement credited to the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, over the controversial Malabu oil deal.
A statement by Mohammed Sani Abacha said the family would not have respond to what they described as Adoke’s baseless allegations against them but for the fact that he has chosen the path of falsehood.
The Abachas said Adoke cannot run away from his shadow over the Malabu deal.
“Abacha family has been drawn to the publications in newspapers thereof containing excerpts of the publication of the former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke SAN in his book ‘Burden of Service – Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney General’ wherein he tried shamelessly to find exit from the necessity to render account for his tenure as Attorney General and Minister of Justice by drawing the Abacha family into predicament.
“It is pathetic that Mohammed Adoke SAN lives in self-exile as a way of running away from his shadow and the need to render account to the nation he claimed to have served with integrity and meritoriously.
“We would as a family, not have been concerned about his self-exile but for the fact that Mohammed Adoke SAN, the Saint lives in exile and is casting aspersion on Abacha family as being responsible for the fact that the Nigerian Government wants him to render account,” the statement said.
The Abacha family said any reasonable person who has served in public office must know of the elementary fact that he could be called upon as a matter of right of the nation he served to render account of his stewardship.
According to him, in blaming the Abacha family, Adoke alleged that the Abacha family decided to go to court and make claims on the OPL 245 otherwise known as Malabu because the Abacha family has sympathizers in the Muhammadu Buhari Government.
He said it is unfortunate that the former Chief Law Officer of the Federation can be this cheap with his statement.
He said the family is not in court over OPL 245 but the legal entity, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd, is in court over OPL 245 as distinct and separate from the Abacha family.
“How cheaper can it get for a former Chief Law Officer to think and say that for Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd to seek justice through the constitutional, legal and judicial process requires the Abacha family having influence or sympathizers in Muhammadu Buhari’s Government and a conducive political environment,” it wrote.
The family said the company, Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd has consistently engaged the legal judicial process to seek redress under previous administration.
He said, “For example, Malabu went to court in suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2003 against the Federal Government of Nigeria over the revocation of the license of OPL 245 during the administration of President Obasanjo and which case ended in an out-of-court settlement at the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/A/99/M/06 in which OPL245 was restored to Malabu Oil and Gas Ltd by the administration of President Obasanjo.
“It was under the Administration of President Jonathan in which Adoke SAN served as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice that the said out-of-court settlement was actualized through the restoration of the license OPL245 to Malabu under the hand of the then Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources after the legal advice of Adoke SAN.
“It is therefore unfortunate and totally false for Adoke SAN, a former Chief Law Officer of the Federation to have been quoted or credited as saying that: “for the eight years that President Obasanjo was in power, the Abacha’s never came out to make a claim to OPL245. They never tried it under President Yar’adua. Under President Jonathan, they never came out boldly to assert any claim.”
