Adoke denies involvement in $1.6b judgement debt

Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has denied any involvement in the court judgment obtained by the 774 local government councils in the country, ordering the Federal Government to pay them $3.188 billion and the alleged diversion of $1.6 billion.

Reacting to a publication by an online medium on the issue, he alleged that there is a plan by some individuals to pitch him against the anti-corruption agencies in order to instigate spurious investigation against his person to settle personal scores.

According to him: “ I wish to state that I was not at any time involved in the alleged diversion of the sum of $1.6 billion paid pursuant to the judgment of the court or any other sums of money.

“It will be recalled that when I assumed office in 2010, one of the reforms measures I initiated was the decentralization of payment of judgment debts, which was before then, domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Justice. This became pertinent in view of allegations of collusion, connivance, bribery and other acts of corruption that had trailed the Judgment Debt payment system I had inherited. I therefore presented a memorandum on the issue to the Federal Executive Council, which considered the reasons I had articulated and approved that the payment of Judgment debts be decentralized (meaning that henceforth, the various MDAs will be responsible for payment of judgment debts that they were primarily liable from their budgetary allocations).

‘’The objective was to make the MDAs take active interest in cases that they were involved, ensure robust defence to such actions and instill transparency and accountability in the system.”