Is this legitimate or a hoax?

I received the following on October 21, 2005 and am not sure whether this sounds like a hoax or not. If this looks legit, I will want to pursue legal action and would like advice on how to carry out action:

I am Victor Williams, a lawyer with the Association of Catholic Lawyers, a
legal Solicitor and I was the Personal Attorney and legal adviser to Mr. Peter
Peebles a national of your country,who was a contractor with oil companies
in West/Africa.

On the 7th of April 2002, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along Uyo Express Road.All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended
relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet, to locate any member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you.

Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the the relatives for over a
year now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of my late
client since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this
account valued at 8.5million dollars can be paid to you.
I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the law.I am not imposing this
transaction on you, It is a thing of self willingness,so it is either you
write me back and tell me you are willing and I will know the next step to
take because this fund must be claimed either with your help or the help of
somebody else.

I will require your honest cooperation to enable us see this
deal through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Best Regards,
Barr: Victor Williams

SCAM, SCAM, SCAM. I get about 10 of these a week and if they were real I would be rich. Trust me you will get more of these as you are now on their mailing list. Don't fall for it. You never get something for nothing. It would be safer playing the lottery.

Don't be fooled and don't fall for this. If you don't believe me check out this website: http://www.potifos.com/fraud/ or this one http://www.secretservice.gov/alert419.shtml

There are many other websites that are dedicated to informing people about these African Scams. See for yourself.