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HEDA and its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, said in a statement on Sunday that Adoke would be sued for defamation if he did not withdraw the petition.
Adoke had, in a petition to the inspector-general of police, alleged that an e-mail used as evidence in the OPL 245 trial in Italy was forged to falsify his relationship with one of the defendants, Aliyu Abubakar.
He also alleged that a taped telephone interview was forged to create the impression that he admitted to an Italian journalist that he knew the OPL 245 deal was a scam.
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In a statement shared with TheCable, HEDA said it was giving a 14-day ultimatum to Adoke, a senior advocate of Nigeria, to retract his “defamatory statement” or face court action.
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A “Mohammed Adoke” was said to communicated with JP Morgan, the bankers, in June 2011 over the OPL 245 transaction via the address of a company owned by Aliyu Abubakar, who was also on trial in Italy.
The e-mail was intended to support the claim that there was corruption because Adoke and Abubakar “worked together” on the deal.
Adoke has debunked the e-mail, saying he was no longer minister as of the date it was sent and had no reason to use another person’s e-mail address.
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He also said he always signs off his name with his rank SAN as a senior advocate unlike the “Mohammed Adoke” that allegedly sent the e-mail.