A team of about 10 policemen on Friday stormed the country home of former attorney general of the federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, located in the Government Reserved Area (GRA), Okene, Kogi State.
The heavily armed officers arrived the ex-AGF’s home around 4.15pm with a search warrant, looking for hidden cash, following a tip-off by a whistle-blower, it was gathered.
The ex-minister was outraged by the invasion, saying it was the fourth time he would be subjected to such humiliation in the name of search.
Adoke alleged that the searches were in “furtherance of an orchestrated plan to harass, intimidate and generally prevent me from pursuing his suit against the Government of Mujammau Buhari.
It was learnt that the policemen included eight from the Force Headquarters in Abuja, one from the Area Command in Okene and another belongs to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Federal).
Eye witnesses said that apart from pistols and rifles, the policemen also came with diggers and axes for use to gain entrance into the residence.
The ex-minister’s relations, led by Mr. Abdul Adoke (his junior brother), cooperated with the team.
Abdul said: “The policemen presented a search warrant obtained from the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Gudu in Abuja. Their leader identified himself as a police officer from the Force Headquarters, Abuja, but he refused to disclose his identity.
“They said they came to screen the duplex based on some clues. They came with pistols and rifles, but there was no resistance from our family. We obliged the policemen their request.
“I quickly mobilized all the security men in the area to witness the search. They ransacked the house from the Boys’ Quarters to the Guest Room and the ex-minister’s master bedroom and the wife’s bedroom.
“They also climbed the surface tank and the roof at the pent house. They also frisked all the upholstery chairs in the house and the dining set.
“After about one-hour search, they said nothing was found in the house. They wrote a report which I and three others countersigned, indicating that there was no cash or document retrieved from the residence.”
Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had raided the ex-minister’s residence in Kano on April 12, 2017.
Also a Nigeria Police team stormed the three-bedroom bungalow of Alhaji Bashir Adoke, the junior brother of the former minister on May 6, 2017.
The EFCC had filed charges against the ex-AGF, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Dan Etete, a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar and eight others over the auctioning of Malabu Oil Block. But Adoke has consistently said that he acted on orders of President Goodluck Jonathan and had even gone to court to seek the nullification of his trial by the EFCC.
He said he could not be held personally liable for carrying out the lawful directives of the President.
In a statement, which he personally signed, Adoke condemned the latest search and described it as an attempt to intimidate him.
He said: “I have just been informed that my country home in Okene, Kogi State, built some 12 years ago was today 14th July, 2017 thoroughly searched by men of the Nigeria Police Force. Armed with a Search Warrant from the High Court of the FCT sitting at Gudu District, Abuja, the 12 policemen searched the whole building, including the overhead and underground water tank, septic tanks, the penthouse and Boys Quarters apparently looking for foreign currency (dollars and pound sterling) and other unspecified documents.
“However, unlike previous searches, which were conducted in the crudest manner with the aim of needlessly destroying property, these policemen conducted themselves professionally and were civil in their approach, thereby giving credence to the new image of the force as a reformed institution.
“At the end of the almost two-hour search, no incriminating thing was found in the house and a report to that effect was duly prepared and witnessed by those who were present, including my junior brother, Abdullahi Adoke.
“This will be the 4th time my home will be subjected to search at the instance of Nigeria’s law enforcement personnel. It will be recalled that my student home in The Hague, Netherlands was searched at the instance of the EFCC.
“This was followed by the search of my country home in Kano and the search of my junior brother’s house also in Okene and today’s search of my own home in Okene. While all these searches have been futile in the sense that nothing incriminating was found, the law enforcement personnel still persist in this fruitless exercise.
“I am, therefore, convinced that the searches are in furtherance of an orchestrated plan to harass, intimidate and generally prevent me from pursuing my suit against the federal government.
“ I served Nigeria diligently as Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for five years and two months and I am proud of the modest achievements I recorded in the Justice and other sectors that my inputs impacted.
“I am, therefore, utterly surprised that at the end of my service, agencies of the state, especially the EFCC, have chosen to align with those with personal grudges and scores to settle with me for refusing to allow my office to be used in their fight to gain ownership and control of OPL 245 granted to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited.
“I am, however, certain that at the appropriate time, all those behind my travails will be exposed and shamed.
“By the grace of God, Nigerians will be made aware of the ignoble roles some of their so-called leaders are playing in furtherance of their personal interests in the guise of fighting corruption.”
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