Malabu: Adoke denies audio recording

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) has denied an audio recording in which he allegedly admitted to complicity in the Malabu oil scam.

Adoke in a statement yesterday, said an online publication which alleged that he admitted on tape that he knew Malabu deal was a ‘presidential scam’ and that billions were ‘illegally diverted’, was designed to pitch him against former president Goodluck Jonathan.

He said the publication was also intended to downplay the significance of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja “which upheld the extent of presidential powers under our Constitution and declared that I acted within the confines of the Presidential Directives/ approvals given to me as a Minister of the Government of the Federation and therefore incurred no personal liability for implementing the OPL 245 Settlement Agreement.”

“I want to place it on record that I did not grant any telephone interview to Carlamaria Rumor or any other person in respect of OPL 245 Settlement Agreement. The said Carla Maria is unknown to me, has never spoken to me and I could therefore not have granted her a 1 hour 17 minutes phone interview,” he said.

Adoke said he has given a 48hour notice to the writer of the story to retract and tender unreserved apology, “failure upon which I shall not hesitate to instruct my Solicitors to immediately commence legal action against them to redress this unacceptable conduct,” he said.