Somtochukwu

During his time as Nigeria’s AGF and Minister of Justice, Aondoakaa showed a high disregard for the law of the country.

Facts have emerged on how the Central Bank of Nigeria hired the services of Michael Aondoakaa, a disgraced former Attorney-General of the country, who showed a high disregard for the law during his time in office, to help freeze the bank accounts of alleged #EndSARS promoters.

Aondoakaa had on Friday obtained a court order on behalf of the CBN to freeze the accounts of 19 individuals and a public affairs company linked to the #EndSARS protests till January 2021.

Some of the affected individuals include Bolatito Racheal Oduala, Chima David Ibebunjoh, Mary Doose Kpengwa, Saadat Temitope Bibi, Bassey Victor Israel, Wisdom Busaosowo Obi, Nicholas Ikhalea Osazele, Ebere Idibie, Akintomide Lanre Yusuf, Uhuo Ezenwanyi Promise and Mosopefoluwa Odeseye.

Others are Adegoke Pamilerin Yusif. Umoh Grace Ekanem, Babatunde Victor Segun, Mulu Louis Teghenan, Mary Oshifowora, Winifred Akpevweoghene Jacob, Victor Solomon, Idunu A. Williams, and Gatefield Nigeria Limited.

SaharaReporters gathered that the former AGF was contacted by the CBN for the job after several lawyers initially reached for the same purpose declined the brief.

Recall that during his time as Nigeria’s AGF and Minister of Justice, Aondoakaa showed a high disregard for the law of the country. 

When he is not deliberately misinterpreting laws to shield his corrupt cronies, he is busy displaying schoolboy ignorance of the tenets of local and international laws.

The Legal Privileges Committee in 2010 suspended Aondoakaa from using the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria for two years following a petition by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and a ruling by a Calabar Federal High Court on June 1, 2010, that he was unfit to hold the office of the Attorney-General or any public office in Nigeria.

The statement by the LPPC at the time read, “After due consideration of the said response, the body has decided in its wisdom to suspend him (Aondoakaa) from the use of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria and all other privileges attached to that rank pending the outcome of the investigation by the sub-committee set up by the legal practitioners privileges committee.”

Aondoakaa was also notorious for his brash support of the government and his defence of corrupt former governor of Delta State, James Ibori.

As Nigeria’s AGF, Aondoakaa did everything to block the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from prosecuting Ibori and other corrupt officials.

He lied to British investigators requesting information on the former governor under the Mutual Legal Assistant Treaty between both countries. 

Aondoakaa also wrote a letter, saying Ibori had not been charged to any court in Nigeria. 

That was after the EFCC had charged Ibori to court soon after he left office as governor.

True to his nature, Aondoakaa denied writing any such letter but was forced to shamefully recant after a copy of the letter was published in the media. 

He also declined the request by the London Metropolitan Police to allow officials of the EFCC to stand as prosecuting witness against Ibori.

On September 18, 2007, the former minister wrote a letter to French authorities, questioning the appropriateness of prosecuting former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, implicated in the N155bn Malabu Oil scandal, for money laundering since Nigeria had neither complained nor investigated Etete for the said crime.

Etete was later convicted for money laundering offences by a Paris court.

He also shielded the owners of Globe Motors, Vaswani Brothers, from investigation and prosecution. 

The brothers were later indicted and deported by the government for gross corruption against the Nigerian people.

Aondoakaa was in 2010 barred from entering the United States over links to massive corruption during his two and half years in office.

Let us connect on social media forever;

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•