OPL 245: Adoke and the Malabu saga, by Reuben Abati 

Mohammed Bello Adoke, OPL 245: Inside Story of the $1.3 bn Nigerian Oil Block. UK: The Conrad Press, 2025, 271 pp.

OPL 245 is probably the most well-known oil block to be awarded by the Nigerian government more for the legal disputes and international arbitrations, with regard to its acquisition and ownership involving the Federal Government of Nigeria, Shell and Malabu Oil as well as a large cast of actors across courts in Nigeria, United States, United Kingdom and. Italy. Whereas OPL 245, a versatile, deep water offshore asset off the Niger Delta was one of other similar licenses awarded to encourage indigenous participation in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, it is caught in a complex web of scandals, allegations of corruption, bribery, and so much melodrama in and out of the courtrooms. In an earlier book titled Burden of Service, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, had written among other things, on this controversial Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL), or what is also known as “Malabugate”; in the present book, a sequel to his first book, he focusses on the OPL 245 in an extensive and comprehensive account of the allegations about his role, the burden that he has had to endure in terms of what he calls “clinical persecution” (p. 149), or “the lies and lies and more lies” (p. 153)  that were told against him, and his eventual vindication.

Adoke’s OPL 245, is by his own admission, “therapeutic”, a book that needed to be written, to set the records straight, for posterity and to clear his name through a documentation of facts and circumstances. Adoke was Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, April 2010 – June 2015.  At the time the OPL 245 saga began in 2003, he was not yet in government, nor was he either when the block was revoked by the Obasanjo government on July 2, 2001, or when a Settlement Agreement was signed in 2006. But when he was appointed AGF/Minister of Justice in 2010, OPL 245 became one of the matters he inherited as Attorney General (p. 23). It was during this period that the Jonathan administration confirmed the award of OPL 245 to Malabu, This author is very clear in stating that the politicisation of OPL 245 was caused by former President Olusegun Obasanjo “who woke up one morning and set OPL 245 on fire” )…he revoked the block without giving any reasons..(p.21), resulting in a series of litigations involving NNPC, Malabu and Shell. which stalled the development of the asset. 

One of Adoke’s first assignments as AGF/Minister of Justice was to help unpack the logjam, and he had advised that the 2006 Settlement Agreement was binding on the Federal Government. In the Resolution Agreement that was arrived at in April 2011, Shell and Nigeria Agip Exploration Ltd. (NAE) would pay $1.3 billion into an escrow account with J. P. Morgan in London, while Malabu would receive $1.092 billion as compensation as “full and final settlement.”  As the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, Adoke was convinced that he had given the government proper advice in the circumstances. This book is about the twists and turns that he would have to deal with later. The exact nature of the burden of service that he has spoken about is laid bare in this book. 

On May 29, 2015, after the Jonathan administration had left office, and the Muhammadu Buhari administration had been sworn in, Adoke said he received messages from those in the know that he was going to be hounded by the new government. He was in fact advised to leave town. He heeded the advice, but more specifically to proceed for further studies at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. His travails soon began. He was accused of taking a bribe of N300 million (US$2.2 m) from the OPL 245 agreement, or another $801 million money, laundering and abuse of office. Adoke insists on his innocence. Nonetheless, he remained in exile, from May 29, 2015 till December 19, 2019, in-between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed cases against him in court, his name was mentioned in legal disputes  in Italy, the US and the UK, his apartment was raided in the Netherlands, his houses were searched in Nigeria,  a Warrant of Arrest was issued against him internationally, leading to his arrest and detention for 35 days by INTERPOL in Dubai, UAE, upon his return to Nigeria, he spent another 55 days in EFCC detention, he was even interrogated over the P&ID matter, and it was not until April 2024 that he was fully cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing in Nigerian courts, resulting in his vindication. Thus, he has had to suffer for about eight years, with threats to his life and well-being.  

As he puts it: “…when President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015, he chose to come after me. Agreed that he misruled Nigeria for eight years, but he at least got distinction in one thing: destroying my name. He turned me to the poster boy of a scandal that never was. I was arrested and detained in the UAE for 35 days. I was arrested and detained for another 55 days in Nigeria by the EFCC. Anywhere my name is mentioned today, it is Malabu and OPL 245 that usually come to mind, thanks to Buhari who harbored a collection of bitter feelings against me for reasons best known to him.”  In this book, Adoke fights back, relying on his vindication at every turn by the courts. The book is divided into Five Parts and 26 chapters. It is a cold-blooded, no-holds-barred response to everyone whom he considers as having played an unkind role in the course of his travails. This may well end up as a very controversial book as the affected persons and institutions may seek to write their own stories, for it should not be assumed that everyone in this cast of heroes and villains would simply read the book and accept guilt. 

A few examples may perhaps convey an impression of this book’s flavour. In Chapter 5, Adoke says former President Olusegun Obasanjo is “clever by half,” and that he owes Nigerians an apology for “blatantly lying” (p.43). He says “Obasanjo failed the ultimate leadership test”. (p. 42) in the matter of OPL 245.  He adds that “It was disingenuous of Obasanjo to have tried to distort historical facts.” (p.53.) On President Buhari he observes that “…he (Buhari) was driven by vengeance. Vengeance for the Abacha family. He believed I was unfair to the Abachas in the OPL 245 deal…” (p.13). Having established what he calls “ Intrigue and Vendetta” in the First Part of the book, Part Two titled “A Den of Defamers” is a systematic skewering of those he considers his traducers namely President Muhammadu Buhari, “a. friend and defender of the Abacha family” (p. 55)  Professor John Paden, author he says of “the shabby biography” of Muhammadu Buhari, Mohammed Sani or Muhammadu Abacha who claims he owns 50% of Malabu which he did not pay for, and yet wanted “a cut from the Malabu windfall” (p.60). Others who seem to have been part of  “the Grand Conspiracy” against Adoke include Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and his lawyer friend, Olabode Johnson “whose firm and partners were targeting a commission of between 5% and 35%,” Mr. Abubakar Malami, Adoke’s successor as AGF, UK-based Global Witness, Fabio de Pasquale, an Italian prosecutor, HEDA Resource Centre, a Nigerian NGO working with Global Witness, Mr. Rislanudeen Mohammed who lied, Sahara Reporters, which Adoke calls “an-anything-goes-website (p. 63) and Premium Times newspaper– all involved in “character assassination… and the mudslinging agenda.” (p. 63. Chapter 8 titled “The Ruthless Enforcer” is a detailed review of the role of the EFCC under Mr. Ibrahim Magu in the author’s travails, what he calls the Magu pandemic (p.74), one EFCC prosecutor Mr. Bala Sanga is even dismissed as “one lowlife…miserable (p.73). Adoke does not pull his punches, large portions of this book must have been written in a fit of anger. Professor Yemi Osinbajo is labelled “the Conflicted Mr. Clean…who likes to be seen as the epitome of transparency, honesty and accountability” (p. 90). Abubakar Malami is called a betrayer and a viper (Chapter 10, “The Antics of Malami”, pp.81-95). Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA Resource Centre and Global Witness got their own thrashing in Chapter 12 titled “The Headless Mob”. Fabio De Pasquale is “the Italian Jobber” whose eventual demotion by Italy’s Superior Council of the Judiciary, Adoke celebrates, just as he would also gloat over Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s travails later in the book (p.256 -258). “Death finally caught up with the hunter”, Adoke writes sarcastically. 

Part III is titled: “Harrassed and Embarrased”: five chapters in which the reader is taken through the author’s detention in Dubai, for 35 days from 12 November 2019 till 19 December 2019 when he decided of his own volition, to return to Nigeria only to be detained for another 55 days in EFCC Custody. Part IV: “Trials and Triumphs,” is a very detailed report of the various cases related to OPL 245 in the United States, Italy, the UK and the pronouncements by the courts in Nigeria. Lawyers, students of case law, prosecutors and the general reader would find a lot that is instructive in this part of the book. The reporting is robust, the documentation is extensive, and illuminating about how the path to justice may be tortuous: justice for the accused, justice for the jury and justice for society. It is difficult to see, however, how justice has been done to society in the case of OPL 245.  Beyond the arrested development of the asset, it is curious as this author asserts that OPL 245 litigation was a very lucrative oil block, as lucrative as OPL 245 itself for lawyers and their allies in the Buhari administration…. that is – “a monumental waste of resources” (p. 200). The book is brought to a close with “Reflections and Recollections” (pp. 246 – 266). Chapter 26 opens with a telling statement: “I was discharged and acquitted but the scars remain” (p. 253), and this is perhaps understandable, given the picture of man’s wickedness to man that Adoke paints, to rise to an esteemed position of being the chief law officer of the Federation only to be humiliated by “a desperate, vicious and ruthless government” – Adoke’s description of Buhari’s government.

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There are four sub-texts running through the entire book: the first is how the institutions of state, such as the EFCC and the judiciary can be used to pursue “unmitigated acts of persecution”, the second sub-text is the fickleness of the human mind, and the deep-seated hatred that some nurse in their minds, the third sub-text is the use and abuse of the media, and the fourth is how the kind of treatment and experience that Adoke has had provide justification for the refusal of many otherwise public-spirited persons to take up political or government appointments. Over twelve years of litigation upon litigation over OPL 245 further raises questions about the quality of leadership in Nigeria. And so Adoke asks: “Who truly short-changed Nigeria between Adoke and Buhari?”  Readers of the book may well find answers within its pages. 

The book is dedicated “to all who stood by me when I was going through the darkest era of my life. My vindication is a victory for those who gave me a benefit of the doubt.” These include Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman of the EFCC who was relieved of his position, a day after he insisted that Adoke was innocent, President Jonathan, “a super respecter of the law” (p. 84), late Mallam Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to Buhari, Ambassador Baba Kamara, the legal team led by Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), as well as true friends and relatives. 

The book ends on a note of thanksgiving as the author chooses to pray: “The Almighty, to whom all glory belongs, will reward every single person who stood by me.” 

The boy from Nagazi, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), CFR, lawyer, now author and public intellectual, should find some healing for his scars if his story as told here is warmly received by those to whom it may concern. The book has strong merit.