Featured

Abacha Loot: Despite Outcry, FG Secretly Pays Malami’s Lawyers ‘Dubious’ $15m Fees

Published

7 years ago

February 5, 2019

Eric

Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo, two Nigerian lawyers hired for the return of $321 million Abacha loot from Switzerland, have been secretly paid their controversial fees, TheCable can report.

Although they were initially to be paid $17 million, it was cut by $2 million and paid following pressure from a very popular Lagos-based pastor who is a political associate of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Adebayo, one of the beneficiaries, confirmed the payment in a telephone interview with TheCable.

Hassan Dodo, director of information at the ministry of finance, and Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the federation, did not pick calls and were yet to respond to messages from TheCable seeking further information on this development.

Presidency sources told TheCable that the pastor mounted enormous pressure on the president, claiming that the lawyers had spent “a lot of money” in trying to get the Swiss authorities to return the money to Nigeria.

TheCable had sent a freedom of information (FOI) request to Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation (AGF), requesting for the various agreements that were signed with the Abacha family, the Swiss lawyer and the Nigerian solicitors by his office.

Instead of responding, Malami filed a libel suit against the newspaper.

DUBIOUS FEES

TheCable had raised the alarm on the duplication of legal fees in the recovery of the $321 million from Switzerland.

The federal government had engaged the services of Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer, in 1999 to help trace, identify, freeze and recover all looted funds traced to Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s military ruler from 1993 to 1998.

After seven years of work, including investigations and litigation across various countries, Monfrini had traced and recovered $321 million from Luxemborg banks.

The funds were domiciled with the government of Switzerland in 2014 pending a final request for transfer from Nigeria.

Monfrini and other lawyers involved had also been paid their fees, with the Swiss getting about $12 million.

However, Malami, rather than write directly to the Swiss authorities to seek the transfer of the funds to Nigeria, engaged Okpeseyi and Adebayo for the purpose.

They have now been paid $15 million as “professional fees” for writing the letter — more than the Swiss lawyer who traced and recovered the funds over a period of seven years.

Okpeseyi and Adebayo were both members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the party founded by Buhari to contest in the 2011 presidential election. Malami was the legal adviser to the party.

‘WE WORKED HARD FOR THE MONEY’

In their defence, Okpeseyi and Adebayo said they deserve their fees having “perused loads of documents to ascertain status of the matters assigned to us”.

They also said they travelled to London to hold meetings with lawyers familiar with the status of the assets and to engage lawyers licensed to practice in the jurisdictions covered by their instructions.

According to them, they engaged the law firm of BCCC attorneys-at-law to take steps towards ensuring the repatriation of the Luxembourg fund through a power of attorney.

Their attorneys travelled to the Canton of Geneva and met with the Swiss authorities, according Okpeseyi and Adebayo.

Finally, the Nigerian lawyers wrote a letter to the attorney-general of Switzerland — effectively the only thing required of the AGF from the beginning — and the money was returned to Nigeria.

They then asked to be paid 5 percent of the repatriated loot as contained in the agreement signed with the AGF. The lawyer who did the actual recoveries across various jurisdictions got 4 percent.

DUPLICATION OF WORK

In a series of interviews with TheCable, Monfrini had maintained that the engagement of new lawyers was needless as he already completed the recovery job and all that was left was for Malami was to “write a letter to the Geneva attorney-general or the government of Switzerland requesting the money to be paid back to Nigeria.”

He added that such activity is not to be developed by lawyers but only through government-to-government communication.

Defending the payment, Adebayo had argued that Monfrini didn’t complete the recovery job because the money was still in Switzerland.

Kemi Adeosun, former minister of finance, initially refused to approve the payment to the lawyers – she, however, later came under pressure to deny stopping it.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, TheCable understands, had queried the request for payment when he was acting president, asking Malami to come and justify it.

However, the matter is now beyond him with the intervention of the Lagos-based pastor.

THE FRUSTRATION

Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF), a partner organisation with TheCable, had sent an FoI request to the AGF, asking for details of agreements between the federal government and the Abachas which led to the eventual withdrawal of the prosecution of Mohammed Abacha; and why another lawyers were appointed after Monfrini had completed the recovery job.

The AGF’s office, the custodian of the FOI act, received TheCable’s request on December 8, 2017, and is yet to respond more than a year – as against the demands of the FOI act (2011) that such request should be answered in seven days of receipt.

CNJF had since been in court seeking an order of mandamus compelling the AGF to make available the information and documents requested from its office pursuant to the FOI act.

Describing the payment as “height of injustice,” the house of representatives, in April, 2018 also set up an ad-hoc committee to carry out “forensic investigation” on the issue to unravel the circumstances surrounding the controversial deal.

The AGF, however, has continually frustrated the probe and many months after, the lawmakers are yet to get headway.

“Of course, the AGF is trying to frustrate the investigation,” a source at the national assembly had told TheCable.

“From the look of things, they are not happy with the committee. They are not happy the committee was constituted,” he added.

“Their report was not properly submitted,” another source within the national assembly told TheCable.

“The submission was not addressed to the chairman of the committee. It was a photocopied document, and didn’t carry the signature of the AGF. Somebody just brought photocopied documents and rushed out, saying he was in a hurry. There is no how the committee can work with such documents.

“When you are asked to bring something, officially, by a constituted authority and you are putting lackadaisical attitude towards that request, it is like you are not happy with the whole thing.”

In September 2018, acting on a tip-off that the Nigerian lawyers were about to be paid, CNJF wrote the ministry of finance, and in its response, the ministry said it “does not have any information regarding any payment made to the solicitors”.

A BACKGROUND

Following the decision of the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to prosecute the Abachas for money laundering in 2013, the family entered into a deal to return funds traced to them.

Working with then-attorney-general of Nigeria, Mohammed Bello Adoke, Monfrini traced about $321 million to Luxembourg.

The monies were recovered and kept in the custody of the attorney-general of Switzerland, awaiting final return to Nigeria.

But the federal government did not repatriate the funds until Jonathan left power in 2015.

A letter of intent was signed by Nigeria and Switzerland in March 2016 under a new attorney-general to ensure the restitution.

Malami and Didier Burkhalter, Swiss foreign minister, signed the document on behalf of their governments.

“The signing of this letter of intent is an important step towards the restitution of the funds under the control of the World Bank, which was made possible by the confiscation by the Geneva prosecutor’s office of this amount initially held in accounts in Luxembourg,” a statement from the Swiss foreign ministry read.

Not much was heard about the $321 million again until October 2017, more than a year after the letter of intent was signed.

Culled from The Cable

Featured

Strategy and Sovereignty: Inside Adenuga’s Oil Deal of the Decade

Published

1 day ago

January 11, 2026

Eric

By Michael Abimboye

In global energy circles, the most consequential deals are often not the loudest. They unfold quietly, reshape portfolios, recalibrate value, and only later reveal their full significance.

The recent strategic transaction between Conoil Producing Limited and TotalEnergies belongs firmly in that category. A deal whose implications stretch beyond balance sheets into Nigeria’s long-troubled oil production narrative.

For Mike Adenuga, named The Boss of the Year 2025 by The Boss Newspapers, the agreement is more than a corporate milestone. It is the culmination of a long-term upstream strategy that is now translating into hard value barrels, cash flow, and renewed confidence in indigenous capacity.

At the heart of the transaction is a portfolio rebalancing agreement that sees TotalEnergies deepen its interest in an offshore asset while Conoil consolidates full ownership of a producing block critical to its medium-term growth trajectory. The parties have not publicly disclosed the monetary value, industry analysts place similar offshore and shallow-water asset transfers in the high hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on reserve certification and development timelines. What is indisputable, however, is the deal’s structural clarity: each partner exits with assets aligned to its strategic strengths.

For Conoil, the transaction represents something more profound than asset shuffling. It is the validation of an indigenous oil company’s ability to operate, produce, and partner at scale. That validation was already underway in 2024, when Conoil achieved a landmark breakthrough: the successful production and export of Obodo crude, a new Nigerian crude blend from its onshore acreage.

In a country where new crude streams have become rare, Obodo’s emergence signalled operational maturity. More importantly, it shifted Conoil from being perceived primarily as a downstream and marginal upstream player into a full-spectrum producer with export-grade assets.

The commercial impact was immediate. Obodo crude enhanced Conoil’s revenue profile, strengthened cash flows, and materially improved the company’s asset valuation.

For Mike Adenuga, Obodo represented something else entirely: oil income with scale and durability. Producing crude shifts wealth from theoretical to realised. It is the difference between potential and proof.

That momentum was reinforced by Conoil’s acquisition of a new drilling rig, a move that underscored its intent to control not just resources, but execution. In an industry where rig availability often dictates production timelines, owning modern drilling capacity gives Conoil a strategic advantage lowering costs, reducing dependency, and accelerating development cycles. It also enhances the company’s bargaining power in partnerships such as the one with TotalEnergies.

Taken together, the Obodo crude success, the rig acquisition, and the TotalEnergies transaction, these moves materially expand Conoil’s enterprise value. While private company valuations remain opaque, upstream assets with proven production, infrastructure control, and international partnerships typically command significant multiple expansion. For Adenuga, all of these represents a stabilising and appreciating pillar of wealth.

As The Boss Newspapers honours Mike Adenuga as Boss of the Year 2025, the recognition lands at a moment when his oil ambitions are no longer peripheral to his legacy. They are central. In Obodo crude, in steel rigs, and in carefully negotiated partnerships, Adenuga is shaping a version of Nigerian capitalism that privileges patience, scale, and execution over spectacle.

In the end, the most powerful statement of wealth is not net worth rankings or headlines. It is the ability to convert strategy into assets, assets into production, and production into national relevance. On that score, the Conoil–TotalEnergies deal may well stand as one of the most consequential chapters in Mike Adenuga’s business story and in Nigeria’s evolving oil future.

Featured

Peter Obi, Only Life in ADC, Says Fayose

Published

3 days ago

January 10, 2026

Eric

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, says the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is the only life in the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Fayose made this statement on Friday while fielding questions in an interview on ‘Politics Today’, a programme on Channels Television.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is technically no more, adding that it is dead.

The former governor equally said that Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, should not be dragged into the woes of the PDP.

He said: “Obi is the only life in ADC; all other people in ADC are semi-existent. If Obi had remained in Labour Party or has gone to Accord Party, he is the only life there. All the other people there, they are not existing. They are old-forces.

“Openly, I supported Tinubu in 2023. I didn’t hide it. Till now I’m still there. I don’t jump. I have said it to you I’m not a member of APC and I will never be.”

DailyPost

Featured

More Troubles for Ahmed Farouk: Dangote Drags Ex-NMDPRA Boss to EFCC over Corruption Claims

Published

3 days ago

January 9, 2026

Eric

The Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, through his legal representative, has filed a formal corruption petition against the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to our correspondent by the Dangote Group media team on Friday.

Recall that Dangote had earlier petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate Ahmed for allegedly spending $5 million on his children’s secondary education in Switzerland. He withdrew the petition a few days ago, even as the ICPC vowed to continue with its investigation.

The statement on Friday said Dangote’s petition to the EFCC followed “The withdrawal of the same petition from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, a strategic decision aimed at accelerating the prosecution process.”

In the petition, signed by Lead Counsel Dr O.J. Onoja, Dangote urged the EFCC to investigate allegations of abuse of office and corrupt enrichment against Ahmed, and to prosecute him if found culpable.

The petition further stated that Dangote would provide evidence to substantiate claims of financial misconduct and impunity.

“We make bold to state that the commission is strategically positioned, along with sister agencies, to prosecute financial crimes and corruption-related offences, and upon establishing a prima facie case, the courts do not hesitate to punish offenders. See Lawan v. F.R.N (2024) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1953) 501 and Shema v. F.R.N. (2018) 9 NWLR (Pt.1624) 337,” the petition read.

Onoja further urged the commission, under the leadership of Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede, “To investigate the complaint of abuse of office and corruption against Engr. Farouk Ahmed and to accordingly prosecute him if found wanting.”