Mohammed Bello Adoke (born 1 September 1963) is a Nigerian lawyer. He is a

Senior Advocate of Nigeria Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a title that may be conferred on legal practitioners in Nigeria of not less than ten years' standing and who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession. It is the equivalent of the rank of Queen's Coun ...

and was appointed Minister for Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation on 6 April 2010, when Acting President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

announced his new cabinet.

Early life and career

Adoke was born on 1 September 1963 in

Kogi State Kogi State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti and Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, to the northeast by Nasarawa State, to the northwest by Niger State, to t ...

. He gained a degree in law from

Ahmadu Bello University Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is a federal government research university in Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. ABU was founded on 4 October 1962, as the pioneer university in Northern Nigeria. It was founded and named after the Sardauna of Sokoto, A ...

Zaria Zaria is a List of Nigerian cities by population, metropolitan city in Nigeria which at the present time lies within four (4) local government areas in Kaduna State, Kaduna state; it happens to be the capital city to the Zazzau, Zazzau Emirate ...

in 1985, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in October 1986. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Tax Law from Robert Kennedy University in Zurich, Switzerland and a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He held positions with the Kwara State Schools' Management Board,

Kano State Kano State (Hausa: ''Jihar Kano''جىِهَر كَنوُ) (Fula: Leydi Kano 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤢𞤲𞤮𞥅 ) is one of the 36 states of Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajee ...

Ministry of Justice and private law firms before establishing his own practice. He was a member of the Board of

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

Automobile from 2006 to 2008 and Chairman of the Board Audit Committee of Unity Bank. He has acted as an arbitrator in England and Nigeria, handling commercial disputes involving Shell Ultra Deep and the Federal Government of Nigeria, Global Steel Holdings and the Bureau of Public Enterprises Investment, and AES Nigeria Barge and

Lagos State Government Lagos State Government is the government of Lagos State, concerned with the administration of the state ministries. The government consists of the executive, legislative and Judiciary. The government is headed by the Governor who is the policy-maker ...

. His appointment as Minister of Justice and Attorney General on 6 April 2010 was seen as an attempt by Jonathan to introduce a fresh approach in pushing through electoral reforms. His tenure as Attorney General ended on 29 May 2015.

Malabu oil deal fraud

On 28 December 2015 Adoke was invited by the

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pre ...

for questioning over the Malabu Oil deal. He was questioned in connection to the missing £22.5m (N6.18billion) loot of the

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

which was recovered from

Island of Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

. A threeman team madeup of Federal government officials which including Adoke was setup to monitor and recover the funds. In March 2016 it was reported that Adoke's home in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

was searched as well as the

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

headquarters due an investigation into the missing funds and receiving bribe from the Malabu Oil deal. On 21 December 2016, the

officially filed charges against Adoke on a nine count charge that as at when he was the Attorney General of Nigeria he approved a transfer transaction of $1.1 billion to Nigerian bank accounts managed by

Dan Etete Dan Etete (born 26 January 1945) aka Chief Dauzia Loya Etete, was the former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum (1995–1998), under the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha's 1995 and was convicted as a money-launderer in the year 2007. Biography Dan Etete ...

former Minister of Petroleum. The $1.1billion was paid by

and Eni to the Federal government account for OPL 245 oil bloc. On 17 April 2019, a Nigerian High Court in Abuja issued an arrest warrant for Adoke and four others for failing to appear at trial in connection with Malabu Oil deal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoke, Mohammed Bello 1963 births Living people Justice ministers of Nigeria Attorneys General of Nigeria Ahmadu Bello University alumni Alumni of Keble College, Oxford People from Kogi State

Early life and career

Malabu oil deal fraud

See also

References