Former presidential aide and member of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) legal team, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, has challenged the narrative of a recent report concerning the recovery of Abacha loot, asserting that it significantly misrepresents the facts.
The assertion followed a story by The Cable, published on 15 December 2025, titled “REPORTER’S DIARY: How Malami frustrated efforts to get info on $17m paid to lawyers from Abacha’s loot.”
The report centred on the decision by former Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, to brief and pay substantial fees to two Nigerian lawyers—Oladipo Okpeseyi, SAN, and Temitope Adebayo—for the recovery of funds, despite the core legal work having been completed by a previously engaged Swiss lawyer.
A key contention for Obono-Obla was the The Cable’s characterisation of these two barristers. He disputed the impression that they singularly represented the defunct Congress for Progressives Change (CPC) in the 2011 presidential election petition.
“Okpeseyi, SAN, and Adebayo were not the only lawyers who represented the CPC before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the Supreme Court,” Obono-Obla stated. He listed several other members of that historic legal team, including himself, Malami, Mahmood, Sly Imanhobe, Justina Obono-Obla, Mary Ekpere, and Ishaq Alasa, among others.
He further noted that many on that CPC team were senior to Adebayo at the time, making the selective focus misleading.
Consequently, Obono-Obla argued the overarching narrative is flawed. “It is therefore inaccurate to suggest that ‘CPC lawyers’ were briefed to recover the Abacha loot. Only two lawyers from the CPC legal team were selected and briefed by Abubakar Malami, SAN, for that assignment”, he clarified.
He clarified that the engagement resulted from a specific choice by the former AGF,not from bringing the whole of the old CPC legal team back together.
“The facts show clearly that only two members of the team were chosen for reasons best known to the former Attorney General,” Obono-Obla concluded.
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