Nigeria’s former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, has said elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark attempted to stop his nomination into the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration in 2010.
Adoke in his new book, “Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General,” accused the self-styled Ijaw national leader of spearheading several attempts to stop his nomination into the government.
Clark who was one of the powerbrokers in the Jonathan presidency, felt Adoke’s ties with former Delta State governor, Chief James Ibori, whom was seen to be antagonistic to the president, posed a major threat to the government, Adoke claimed.
“Another attempt to stop my nomination was spearheaded by Chief Edwin Clark, the Ijaw leader, whose image loomed large during the Jonathan administration.”
The former AGF who is on a self-imposed exile, pointed out in his book that another complaint against his nomination by Chief Clark, was the fact that he served as counsel to Rotimi Amaechi, current Minister of Transportation, when the latter was denied the PDP governorship ticket of Rivers State in 2007. “That was a crime in Clark’s court,” Adoke said.
Adoke equally fingered Chief Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta and Mr. Femi Otedola, billionaire oil magnet as powerful individuals who desperately tried to truncate his ascension to the office of the Chief Law Officer of the country.
According to Adoke, Akpabio feared that he could use his position as AGF to the advantage of Rivers State since he had acted as lead counsel to Rivers in a matter between Akwa Ibom and Rivers over the location of oil wells for the determination of derivation payment.
“Immediately after the screening, those who did not want me to be AGF began to lobby that I should be given another portfolio. The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, was the arrowhead of that push,” Adoke revealed.
Similarly, Adoke accused Otedola of promoting Mr. Adetokunbo Kayode (SAN) who was also eyeing the office of the AGF.
“Otedola was brutally honest in his support for Kayode,” Adoke noted in his book.
