By Emmanuel Addeh
Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, over an alleged case of criminal forgery designed to link him with Aliyu Abubakar, one of the parties in an ongoing court case in Milan, Italy.
Adoke alleged that parties responsible for the petition, investigations and commencement of the criminal trial at the court of Milan against the individuals and entities connected with the OPL 245 settlement agreement, resorted to forgery of an email dated June 21, 2011, which was submitted to the court as material evidence.
In the letter written on his behalf by his lawyer, Kanu Agabi (SAN), Adoke stated that he was particularly shocked at the unlawful design and collusion with the public prosecutors at the court of Milan to carry out the act.
He argued that the email was written at a time he was no longer the AGF, owing to the dissolution of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) by then President Goodluck Jonathan.
Adoke stated that he was only reappointed to the position on July 2, 2011, saying that from May 29, 2011- July 2, 2011, he was on holiday abroad as a private citizen, and did not have any dealings with official matters on behalf of the government.
He noted that it was inconceivable that he would send a memo on behalf of the federal government on official matters about the OPL 245 settlement agreement in the form of the email of 21/06/2011, as a private citizen.
“Our client’s position is that it is on record that all of our client’s correspondence, whether physical or electronic, are signed off with the suffix “SAN”, and at no time did our client sign off any document without using his rank in the legal profession.
“The parties responsible for the forgery of the email dated 21/06/2011 would want to suggest to the Milan Court and the public that our client would sign off an email from another person or a third-party’s email account with his name “Mohammed Bello Adoke” omitting his professional rank of “SAN” which is false.
“Our client would want to point out that he would never have sent an email from another person’s account and signed off with his name. This is completely illogical. Our client has an e-mail account for his personal and for his official matters. Therefore, it is completely nonsensical to expect our client to use another person’s email address,” the petition said.
It added that moreover, Adoke while in office, had at least five aides working with him who could have sent an email on his behalf assuming that he was busy, or had issues with his email account.
Adoke stressed that it was in the same manner that a purported telephone interview between a certain Ms Carlamaria Rumor, described as a reporter with RAI Television in Italy, was alleged to have taken place when indeed it never happened.
He alleged that the parties responsible for the petition, investigation and the prosecution of the criminal trial before the court are, in on a common unlawful criminal design to incriminate him to sustain the corruption allegation made at the criminal trial of the parties to the OPL 245 settlement agreement pending at the court of Milan, and extension, in Nigeria.
“The individuals who initiated the petition, investigations and the criminal trial at the court of Milan have engaged in acts of forgery of the email document dated 21 June 2011 and the phoney telephone interview alleged to have occurred between Ms Carlamaria Rumor,” he insisted.
He said that this was aimed at procuring false documentary evidence for use in subverting the wheel of justice at the ongoing criminal trial of the parties connected with the OPL 245 settlement agreement.
“We hereby make a formal complaint of criminal forgery with the intent to unlawfully interfere with the course of justice and law in Nigeria and Italy against the persons who initiated the petition, investigations and the criminal trial at the court of Milan,” the petition read.
