The Nigerian government has refuted the claim advanced by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over the Mining Lease OML 245 dispute resolution by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.
DAILY POST reports that Atiku barely two days ago had insisted that OML 245 dispute persist despite Nigerian government insistence that it has been resolved.
Atiku had claimed that the government had sidelined Malabu Oil, a major stakeholder in the OML 245 dispute.
However, AGF Fagbemi described Atiku’s claim as self-serving interest.
According to him, the 2025 Court of Appeal ruling in Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited v. Malabu Oil & Gas Ltd. had dismissed Malabu’s challenge to the allocation of the oil block as statute-barred.
“It is noteworthy that although the ICSID arbitration, which commenced in 2020, received considerable public attention, none of the stakeholders now being referenced by the former vice president participated in those proceedings.
“The arbitration was not concerned with questions of ownership of Malabu or internal disputes within the company. Rather, it focused strictly on whether Nigeria had wrongfully delayed or refused the conversion of OPL 245 into an OML and whether such actions breached its treaty obligations to foreign investors.
“In light of the foregoing, it must be stated unequivocally that the ongoing opposition to this resolution is both revealing and deeply concerning.
“The persistence of these criticisms, despite clear legal, commercial, and national interest considerations, strongly suggests that they are driven not by patriotism or objective reasoning, but by undisclosed and self-serving interest,” he stated.