On January 28, , the acting chairman of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu,received a two-paragraph letter from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who made only one request from the anti-graft chief.
The letter which was signed by Muhammad Diri, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, the letter asked Magu to forward “the case diary in respect of investigation into” the OPL 245 Malabu scandal.
The letter, which should normally be a routine one, caused a dilemma to the EFCC chief. It put him directly in the middle of a conflict, a senior government official called “cold war” between the Attorney General Abubakar Malami, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The crux of the disagreement between the vice president and the attorney general concerns what decision the administration should take as it tries to resolve the fraud and controversy surrounding the allocation of immensely rich OPL 245 to Malabu and its subsequent assignment to oil majors, Shell and Eni.
It was exclusively reported that the recommendations made by the justice ministry to the presidency regarding the resolution of a long-drawn scandal which has given Nigeria a bad name, and is being investigated by authorities in Italy, UK, Nigeria, and the U.S.
One of the recommendations which has since been accepted by the Attorney General was for the nullification of the tripartite agreements that ceded the oil bloc to Shell and Eni. The committee described the agreements as “null and void”, saying it “should not be given any legal effect by the FGN (Federal Government of Nigeria) as doing so would amount to the FGN condoning and perpetuating illegality.”
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