Officials of the United Arab Emirate, UAE, have prevented Nigeria’s
former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mohammed Adoke, from
returning to Nigeria after he tested positive to the Coronavirus in
Dubai.
Adoke is expected to return to Court on January 11, 2021 for the
continuation of his trials for money laundering.
Sources told Pointblanknews.com that few days ago, Adoke, was prevented
from boarding an Emirate Flight to Abuja after a test result carried out
on him returned positive for Covid-19.
“He was supposed to be on the same flight with me, but I didn’t see him
when we landed in Abuja. When I called someone else in Dubai to find out
what had happened to him, I was told he tested positive to Covid-19 and
so was refused boarding,” a source who saw him in Dubai told
pointblanknews.com.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that a lot of high-profile Nigerians do not
test for Covid-19 before traveling out of Nigeria. Reports also suggest
that instead of testing, high profile Nigerians pay bribes to officials
of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, to avoid being tested
for the virus.
Recall that in December 2020, a Federal High Court in Abuja had granted
permission to Adoke to travel for a medical check-up in the United Arab
Emirate (UAE).
In a ruling, Justice Inyang Ekwo, discountenanced the objection raised
by a lawyer to the prosecution, Bala Sanga, and granted Adoke’s
application as argued by another former AGF, Kanu Agabi (SAN).
Justice Ekwo said the issue of whether to grant such an application was
within the court’s discretion, which he was inclined to exercise in
favour of the applicant because he claimed to be travelling on medical
grounds.
The judge proceeded to order the release of the ex-AGF’s international
passport to enable him to travel from December 15 this year and return
on January 10, a day before the scheduled resumption of trial in the
money laundering charge involving him and a businessman, Aliyu Abubakar.