Five Days after Court Ordered His Release, Adoke Still in EFCC Custody

Davidson Iriekpen

Five days after a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, was granted bail by a Federal Capital Territory High Court, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is yet to comply with a court order for his release, THISDAY has learnt.

Adoke, who was granted bail on January 30, 2020 by Justice Idris Kutigi, was charged with corruption.

The terms for his bail as granted by the court included N50 million and a surety with residential properties in Abuja.

THISDAY gathered that the former AGF met all the bail conditions by last Thursday evening, a few hours after they were imposed, and the judge subsequently signed a warrant for his release.

Rather than comply with the order, it was gathered that EFCC officials instead demanded an enrolment order of the former AGF’s release warrant.

‘Enrolment of order’ is an official summary of a court ruling prepared and issued to parties in a case until the full version is available.

The demand infuriated Adoke’s legal team as they wondered why the EFCC would impose its own conditions in a manner that undermined the release warrant that had been duly signed by a judge.

Nevertheless, Adoke’s lawyers, led by senior counsel, Mr. Mike Ozekhome, returned to court on Friday to iron out the additional conditions imposed by the EFCC. The SAN presented the enrolment order and other necessary release documents signed by Justice Kutigi on Friday. The registrar for Justice Kutigi’s court also followed the former AGF’s team to the EFCC on Friday to understand why the former AGF was still being held.

Adoke was never released and his legal team members were simply tossed from one office to another.

THISDAY gathered that for several hours on Friday, the EFCC prosecutor was also said to have disappeared and was unable to advise the commission to comply with the court order.

The spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade, did not return requests for comments about why Adoke was still being held days after a judge signed warrant for his release. But Adoke’s lawyer, Ozekhome, said he was surprised that his client was still in custody.

“EFCC is still keeping him. I really do not know why. I am just on my way back from Asaba now. I will find out and do a considered press release soon,” Ozekhome told THISDAY on Monday evening.