A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has said the acting Chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu, may be the
puppet of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Adoke, in his book titled Burden of Service: Reminiscences of
Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General, stated that he might have drawn
the anger of Osinbajo after alleging that the Vice-President
benefited from a $16m legal fee that saw the Federal Government
recover $65m from indicted companies many years ago.
He said although he had not confirmed Osinbajo’s feelings on the
matter, the EFCC chairman was probably being used by the
Vice-President “to get his pound of flesh.”
The former minister cited a 2016 interview with THISDAY, where
he had said, following a Halliburton case, the Federal Government
under former President Goodluck Jonathan retained the services of
Nigerian lawyers to prosecute foreign companies that allegedly
bribed Nigerian officials in respect of a Nigerian Liquefied
Natural Gas project.
Adoke explained that he had made the case to adopt the template
that was ultimately used in the Pfizer case to get the indicted
companies to pay the fees of the lawyers in addition to the money
recovered from them.
He stated, “In the Pfizer case, the amount recovered was $65m,
but Pfizer, in addition, paid the lawyers the sum of $16m as
fees.
“In that interview, I mentioned the names of the lawyers who got
paid by Pfizer to include Chief J.B. Daudu, Prof. Osinbajo and a
host of other Nigerian lawyers, including Mrs Mariam Uwais, now a
Special Assistant to the President on Social Investment Programme
in the Office of the Vice-President.”
According to him, their fees were paid to them by Pfizer through
an associate of Osinbajo, Mr Tunde Irukera, who is now the Director
General of the Consumer Protection Council.
Adoke added, “I was told that Osinbajo was very bitter that I
mentioned his name. He didn’t fancy being portrayed as having
benefited from certain transactions as he sought to maintain a
clean public image. It appeared I had inadvertently blown open that
holy lid.”
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