Abubakar Malami
Following the expiration of her 74-hours
Ultimatum to the Acting President Yemi Osinbanjo to direct EFCC to
cease the harassment and persistent invasions of homes of former Federal
Attorney General and minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN) over
the Malabu/Shell settlement, a Rights group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has headed to the United Nations.
The pro-Democracy and Non-Governmental
Organisation- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) in a
statement to the media by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel
Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab Yusuf said it
has sent a team to Dakar, Senegal over the Weekend to submit a petition
to Mr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the Representative of the Secretary General
of the United Nations (UN for West Africa).
HURIWA disclosed that the petition is
being submitted to the UN to demand that the World body intervenes to
get the Nigerian State to guarantee the security and safety of the life
and safeguard the erstwhile Justice minister from incessant threats to
the life of the immediate past Federal Attorney General and minister of
Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN) who due to credible fears for his
life can't return to the Country from Europe where he has gone for a
post- masters programme.
Besides, HURIWA also told the United
Nations that the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) has
persistently waged illegal invasions of the homes of the former Attorney
General and Minister of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke(SAN) leading to
the destruction of his legitimately earned assets.
HURIWA said the presentation to the UN
is titled: "PETITION ON INFRINGEMENTS BY NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AGAINST THE PERSON OF IMMEDIATE PAST FEDERAL ATTORNEY GENERAL AND
MINISTER OF JUSTICE(AGF) MR MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE(SAN) AND HIS FAMILY
MEMBERS."
Excerpts from the petition states thus:
"We write you this petition with the greatest respect and with the
ultimate expectation that you would use you good offices and
institutions to wade into the matter and demand that the Nigerian State
provide remedial redress to the victims of serial human rights
violations aforementioned."
"This petition is being written purely
from an independent perspective as credible stakeholders in the Nigerian
human rights community. "
"We have existed and worked actively to defend human rights in Nigeria of all classes since a decade ago."
"We at the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCAITION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) have followed with considerable shock
and trepidation, the continuous harassment of the family members of the
immediate past Federal Attorney General and minister of Justice Alhaji
Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission. There is also allegations of threats to the life of the
immediate past AGF."
"The former Minister of Justice who has
been in Europe for his post master’s degree course has cried out on
several occasions that the lives of his immediate family members are
threatened by members of the cabal within the presidency in Nigeria
because of the ongoing issues relating to the lawful action he took in
his capacity as the nation’s Chief law officer in the business
transaction over oil well involving such parties as Malabu and Shell."
"Sir, we will for historical purposes
present the summary of the matter of Malabu and to show your good
offices that in the entire scenario, the immediate past AGF is being
wrongfully targeted may be because of his political persuasion or
because he was a key kitchen cabinet member of the last government
headed by the now opposition party- people’s democratic party".
"1. INTRODUCTION
The settlement between Shell Nigeria
Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited (Malabu) over
the ownership /right to operate OPL 245 which was facilitated by the
Federal government of Nigeria through the office of the Attorney General
of Federal and minister of justice commenced in April 2011.
We note that Adoke himself has written
to explain his official role in all of these but the harassment has
persisted especially by the Economic and Financial Crimes commission
(EFCC) even when the former minister who served Nigeria without blemish
for five years had instituted litigation challenging the government
wrongful persecution based on substantially unprovable and
unsubstantiated and indeed baseless allegations.
Mr. Adoke has also submitted to the
House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on the transaction involving
the federal government and Shell/Agip companies and MALABU Oil and Gas
Limited in respect of Oil Block OPL 245.
Sir, may we inform you that in that submission to the parliamentary panel in 2013 he (Adoke) had stated amongst others thus:
"It is important to reiterate from the
beginning that the settlement Agreement between Malabu and the federal
government over the ownership/right to OPL 245 predates me in office as
the terms of settlement upon which the settlement as predicated were
executed as a far back as 30th November 2006 to amicably settle suit:
FHC/ABJ/.CS/420/2003 and Appeal No: CA/A/99/M/06 brought by Malabu Oil
and Gas Limited as Plantiff/Appellants against the president and
Commander in chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria; the federal Government
of Nigeria; the National Petroleum Corporation; the ministry of
Petroleum Resources; the Department of Petroleum Resources and Attorney
General of the Federation as Defendants/Respondents."
2. ATTECEDENTS OF DESPUTES BETWEEN MALABU AND THE FGN in the report goes thus:
"Records indicate that Malabu ,an
indigenous oil and gas company was allocated OPL 245 in April,1998b by
the FGN in furtherance of its indigenous exploration programme policy
introduced in the early 1990s to encourage effective development of
indigenous capability in the upstream sector of the oil industry.
Malabu and the other indigenous oil and
gas companies were accordingly allocated oil blocks which they were
expected to develop in partnership with international oil companies as
Technical partners.
Malabu has in accordance with the terms of grant appointed to Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) as its technical partner.
The companies executed relevant Agreements as a joint operation agreement in 2001.
Malabu asserts that it proceeded to
operate OPL 245 as a sole risk venture in conformity with Government’s
guidelines. Malabu also asserts that it negotiated with SNUD which took
40% participating interests in the venture in a farm –in –agreement and
that SNUD agreement with Malabu as its technical partner for the
venture.
Although, Malabu was issued a license
for Block 245 on 9th April 2001,the FGN subsequently revoked the license
on 2nd July 2001.Exxon Mobile and shell were then invited in April 2002
to bid the same Opl 245 as contractors on a production sharing
contract(PSC) with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
despite the existence of subsisting contractual agreements between
Malabu and SNUD with respect to OPL 245.Disatified with the revocation,
Malabu contended among other things at the circumstances leading to the
revocation of its license on Block 245 was less then transparent and
smacked of inducement and connivance from SNUD, which at the material
time was technical partner. It was also contended by Malabu that the
subsequent re-award of OPL 245 VSNUD by the FGN was done under
questionable circumstances.
Malabu then petitioned the House of
Representative Committed on petroleum to look into the matter. It is
important to note that the house of representative committee on
petroleum found no rational basis for the revocation and reprimanded
shell for its complicity. The committee also directed the federal
government to withdraw the re-award, it made to shell and return OPL 245
to Malabu, the original allotee of the block. In addition to its
recourses to the holder of representative committee on petroleum, Malabu
also instituted suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/420/2003, before the Federal High
Court (FHC) Abuja to enforce its claim to OPL 245.
Although, the suit was struck out by7
FHC, Malabu proceeded to lodge Appeal No.CA/A/99M/2006,before the Court
of Appeal, Abuja, Division in 2006.
Sir, please note that during the
pendency of the Appeal, an amicable settlement was entered into between
Malabu and in compliance with the terms of settlement executed by the
parties on 30th November 2006,OPL 245b was fully and completely restored
to Malabu in consideration for its withdrawal of the Appeal.
It is instructive to note that the
honorable minster of State Dr. Edmound Daukoru, communicated the
restoration of the OPL 245 to Malabu vide letter dated 2nd December 2006
which is in the possession of relevant federal government oficials like
the office of the Federal AttorneyGeneral and Minister of Justice.
Please Sir, kindly note that a principal
government official prior to the appointment of Mr. Adoke, the then
Petroleum Minister of State authored a letter also which clearly states
that President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, had duly approved the
restoration of OPL 245 to Malabu.
It is important to state that the terms
of settlement were filed in Court as consent judgment and became binding
orders of the court. The major clauses in the terms of settlement are
reproduced below to show the issues, agreed upon by the parties.
(I) In the spirit of an
amicable settlement and without any admission of liability for any
alleged wrongful, unlawful, unjust or any like conduct, the Federal
Government of Nigeria(hereinafter referred to as (‘FGN’)agrees to
re-allocate the oil block known as and covered by oil prospecting
licence245 to Malabu oil and gas limited from the date of this
agreement;
(II) The signature bonus in
respect of OPL 245 shall be the sum of US$ 210,000,000(two hundred and
ten US Dollars) payable by Malabu to the FGN .In this regard, the FGN
acknowledges that Malabu had hitherto paid a sum of US$ 2,040,000(two
million and forty thousand Us dollars)to the FGN in respect of its Oil
Block which sum shall be deducted from the aforesaid signature bonus
leaving a balance of US$ 207,960,000(two hundred and seven million, nine
hundred and six thousand Dollars)to be paid by Malabu to the FGN within
12 (twelve) months from the date of the reinstatement of OPL 245 to
Malabu.
(III) The parties agree that Malabu
shall, if it so desires be at liberty to assign OPL 245 or any part
thereof in accordance with the provision of the petroleum Act.
(IV) Pursuantly to this agreement
and in consideration of the foregoing, Malabu hereby forever and
absolutely discharges and releases the FGN, its officers, agents,
agencies and privies howsoever described or any person acting for and/or
on its behalf, from all claims or demands which Malabu has or may have
from all actions, proceedings, obligations, liabilities, losses and
damages brought, made, incurred, sustained or suffered by Malabu now or
in the future relating to, arising from or however connected with the
withdrawal or revocation by the FGN from Malabu of OPL 245;
(V) The parties agree that these terms of settlement shall be made the judgment if the court.
Sir, we invite you to note that a
cursory reading of the above clauses in the terms of settlement would
reveal that it as the agreement of the parties that OPl 245 should be
fully restored to Malabu; Malabu was expected to pay the balance of the
signature bonus in the sum of US$ 207,960,000 and Malabu was free to
dispose the block by way of assignment.
From records available in the public
space, Malabu accordingly released the FGN from liability on account of
the actions taken in respect OPL 245.It is opposite to note that no
other individual principal corporate body as a party to court action by
Malabu or the amicable settlement with the FGN.
3. SNUD’S RESPONSE TO MALABU’S AMICABLE SETTLEMENT WITH THE FGN AND THE RESTORATION OF OPL 245 TO MALABU
SNUD apparently dissatisfied with the
implementation of the terms settlement between the FGN and Malabu,
commenced arbitration proceedings Against the decision of the FGN to
restore/re-allocate OPL 245 to Malabu at the international center for
the settlement of investment disputes (ICSID)in Washington Dc, and made
representations to governments on the impending arbitration. It also
commenced a suit against the FGN before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
It will be recalled that SNUD had
entered into production sharing contract with the NNPC in 2003b upon
their OPL 245 was anchored. SNUD has paid $1million US Dollars out of
$210 million us dollars signature bonus to the federal government and
kept the balance of $209 million us dollars in an Escrow Account with
J.P Morgan pending the resolution of the dispute between Malabu and
Federal Government.
4. EFFORT TO SETTLE THE LINGERING DISPUTE BY SIUCESSIVE ADMINISTRTIONS
It is important from the exchange of
letters between the presidency, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, SNUD
and Malabu, that several meetings were held between President Olusegun
Obasanjo, GCFR and SNUD to resolve the dispute. The former president had
proposed a middle courses solution to the dispute; whereby the
interests of SNUD, Malabu and NNPC would be accommodated on OPL 245,
i.e. SNUD would be contractor-operator, while NNPC and Malabu would be
concessionaire equity right and concessionaire equity interests
respectively.
Sir, while it would appear that SNUD
was comfortable with the above arrangement. Malabu contended that the
solution failed to take cognizance of its membership rights over OPL
M245.Malabu asserted that the proposed solution amounted to a unilateral
imposition of the back in regime, which did not apply in the
circumstance. In general, was of the view that SNUXD was not a position
to insist that it must be the contractor on OPL 245 and canvassed the
full implementation of the terms of settlement proposals is enclosed as
Annexure C.
To reconcile these conflicting
positions, the Honorable Minister of State, Petroleum Resources had by a
letter dated 11th may 2007 to President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR
proposed that a committee made up of himself, the Attorney General of
the Federation, Minister of Energy, GMD-NNPC, DPR with external
solicitors serving as resource persons be constituted to enter into
settlement negotiations with the affected companies.
However there is no indication on the
records that the committee was able to arrive at any satisfactory
outcome before the President Umar Musa Yar’adua, GCFR was sworn in as
President on 29th May 2007.
Sir from all tgat we have adduced, it
has become clear that the current administration in Nigeria has embarked
on the selective harassment of Mr Adoke for no other justifiable reason
other than the perception that he was a key player in the immediate PDP
government whereas the ruling pary now is APC which has deployed
humongous public resources to demonize the now opposition PDP.
We say so because this Malabu matter's
final settlement phase predates the immediate past government but
commenced around 2006 with the then Federal government under chief
Olusegun Obasanjo up until it was resolved out of court during the last
administration.
In all of these the AGF is one of the
over 5 key government officials including president Obasanjo, Yar’adua
/Jonathan, Petroleum Minister and then Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga
who then headed the Finance Ministry. His predecessor in office under
Obasanjo played also his lawful role.
Why isolate and select Adoke for
persistent harassment when the FG hasn’t been able to establish any
evidence of wrong doing or show any bribery transaction linking the
immediate past AGF?
The action of invasions of homes of
Adoke in Abuja, Kano and Kogi State is illegal and unconstitutional and
violates all known laws of civility and human rights including the
following:
International Covenant on civil and political rights in Article 17:
“1.Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others”.
“2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”.
Universal Declarations of Human Rights@
Article 1:“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscious and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”,
Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all
the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration, without
distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, religion, political
or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be
made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international
status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it
is independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation
of sovereignty”.
Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”
Article 9: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”
The 1999 Constitution in sections
42(1) “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, ethnic group,
place of origin, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason only
that he such a person-
(a) Be subjected either
expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law in force in
Nigeria or any executive or administrative action of the government, to
disabilities or restrictions to which citizens of Nigeria of other
communities, ethnic groups places of origin, sex, religions, or
political opinions are not made subject; or
(b) Be accorded either
expressly by, or in the practical application of, any law force in
Nigeria or any such executive or administrative action, any privilege or
advantage that is not accorded to citizen Nigeria of other communities,
ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religious or political opinions”
36(1): “In the determination of his
civil rights and obligations, including any question, or determination
by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to
a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal
established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its
independence and impartiality”
And, 36(5) “Every person who is
charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until
he is proved guilty, provided that nothing in this section shall
invalidate any law by reason only that the law imposes upon any such
person the burden of proving particular facts”.
We had few days back given the Acting
President Professor Yemi Osinbanjo 74 hours to officially and publicly
direct the EFCC to stop the harassment of Adoke or failure which we will
approach the UN Human Rights Council with a petition to declare ex
justice minister of Nigeria as an endangered species in Nigeria but the
Nigerian government has failed to so order EFCC and other armed agents
of government.
Sir, we believe that the incessant
invasions of private residences of the family of the immediate past
minister Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) and the willful destruction of
his property by agents of the Nigerian government amounts to the
violation and negation of the fundamental obligations of the Nigerian
State to protect and promote the human rights of Nigerians.
Nigeria being a signatory to several
international human rights and humanitarian treaties, covenants and
treaties, we urge you to use your good offices to compel the Nigerian
government to comply with three basic State obligations arising from
human rights namely the Obligation to respect; the Obligation to
protect; and the Obligation to fulfill.
We write to inform you that although the
Nigerian constitution is replete with sections that provide domestic
redress and remedy, but the government of the day in Nigeria has become
notorious violators of those mechanisms.
There are several judgments against
violations of human rights of Nigerians by government from courts of
competent Jurisdiction that have not being complied with such binding
verdicts like that of the immediate past National security adviser to
the president Colonel Sambo Dasuki, that of the leader of the Islamic
movement of Nigeria Sheikh Elzak-zacky is well known as examples of
judgments seeking to provide redress for gross human rights violations
that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has disobeyed
persistently.
We hereby make this submission believing
that your intervention is necessary to compel the Nigerian Federal
government to stop institutions being manipulated by the Presidency in
pursuit of needless vendetta and political persecution of the past
Federal Attorney General and Minister of Justice Mr. Bello Mohammed
Adoke (SAN) and the members of his family living in Nigeria.
Sir, it may interest you to know that
the immediate past Federal Attorney General has serious threat to his
life making it impossible for him to return to his family members
especially because the individuals who are behind his unconstitutional
ordeals are powerful members of the cabal in the president Buhari-led
government which is notorious for massive human rights violations.
Our objectives are;
v To deploy the members’ creative
talents as writers to promote, protect and project the human rights of
all Nigerians and other law abiding citizens resident within Nigeria;
v To organize periodic seminars and
training workshops locally for human capital development specifically on
the tenets and ideals of Human Rights and the rule of Law;
v To attend International Workshops and Seminars targeted at the promotion and protection of human rights;
v To conduct periodic studies on ways, means and strategies for promoting and protecting human rights of law abiding citizens;
v To highlight human rights challenges
confronting the persons in conflict with the law and seek for
constructive modalities for redressing such violations; and
v To recognize excellence and good
governance standards in the polity through yearly award ceremonies for
exceptionally good, tested and trusted leaders in both the corporate and
public sectors. The process of selection would be by transparent mass
participation strategies.
Be assured of our highest esteem and consideration even as we look forward to reading your swift response."
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