EFCC obtains court order to detain former justice minister Mohammed Adoke for 14 days

FORMER attorney-general of the federation Mohammed Adoke is to be held in custody for 14 days after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) obtained a court order today authorising it to detain him for two weeks.

Yesterday, Mr Adoke, who was Nigeria's justice minister between April 2010 and May 2015, was arrested after he arrived in Abuja from Dubai by the EFCC. His arrest capped a five-week ordeal during which Mr Adoke was held detention after being arrested by Interpol on November 11 after arriving in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a medical check-up.

When Mr Adoke was the attorney-general. $1.1bn was paid by Shell and Agip-Eni to purchase Nigeria’s OPL 245, a lucrative oil field off the country’s southern coast. Dan Etete, a former petroleum minister during the Sani Abacha regime, who was convicted for money laundering in France in 2007, received a large chunk of the payment.

Following his arrest yesterday, the EFCC, though its lawyer Fatima Mustapha, filed for a court order to detain Mr Adoke. This morning, a Maitama federal high court in the Federal Capital Territory granted that order with Justice Othman Musa granting the request contained in an ex parte application.

Justice Mustapha said the plan to hold the ex-minister was to enable the commission to complete its investigations of allegations involving the suspect. Mr Adoke has denied any wrongdoing and so far, the EFCC has not been able to come up with any firm evidence against him.