A former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, has debunked claims that he has been on the run, saying that he has been in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission since December 13, 2023.
According to a statement issued on Sunday night by one of his friends, Oluwafisan Bankale, “Agunloye is neither in hiding nor on the run.”
Bankale explained that Agunloye walked into the office of EFCC in Abuja on December 13, 2023 and he has remained there since then.
He reassured his friends and the general public that he was in custody of the EFCC and cooperating with them.
“In his own words, Dr. Olu Agunloye had described the declaration by EFCC that he was wanted for fraud as uncalled for,” Bankale added.
He stressed that “for the very few who may not be conversant with him, that Dr. Olu Agunloye is a patriot who is wired to live and work with integrity. He has both virtues in such sufficient quantum, at least, as to not hide or run on this matter, or any, indeed.
“Dr. Agunloye’s name evokes a pacific aura and a life devoted to high achievement in the public space as befits a thorough intellectual. That point is best driven home by the fact a scan of the media shows that there is no celebration of his detention, an attestation to the way he is beheld by the public. That is gratifying.
“Finally, I appeal to those who can, to hasten his release and that in the meantime, he be dealt with in truly professional manner minding the Rule of Law.”
The EFCC had declared Agunloye wanted over alleged corruption and forgery.
The EFCC shared the public notice declaring Agunloye wanted on its Facebook and Instagram channels on Tuesday.
“The public is hereby notified that Olu Agunioye, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of corruption and forgery,” the public notice read in part.
According to the commission, Mr Agunloye is aged 75 and is from Akoko North Local Government Area, Ondo State.
It also gave his last known address as No 20 Sold Boneh Way Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State.
It urged anyone “With useful information as to his whereabouts” to contact its offices in Benin, Kaduna, Ibadan, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Ilorin, Enugu, Kane, Lagos, Gombe, Uyo, Port Harcourt and Abuja offices as well through its telephone lines and email.
The public notice signed by EFCC’s spokesperson, Oladele Oyewale, did not disclose details of the “corruption and forgery” allegations over which the former minister is being wanted.
But Agunloye, a few months ago, spoke publicly about his investigation by the commission over the stalled multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower Project.
He confirmed in his statement then that he had been detained and interrogated by the EFCC over the case.
His comments in September on the issue were in response to a fraud allegation former President Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom he served as minister, leveled against him in an interview with TheCable newspaper with respect to the project.
Obasanjo, in the interview, accused the former minister of fraudulently awarding the contract for the multi-billion-naira Mambilla Hydropower Project without the approval of the Federal Executive Council.
The project, first awarded in 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited by the Obasanjo administration, is the subject of decades of a legal dispute that is now under international arbitration between the company and the Nigerian government.
Obasanjo, in distancing himself from the mess that the project has become, claimed that he was not aware that the contract was awarded by his then-minister, Agunloye.
Alleging fraud in the contract award, Obasanjo insisted that no minister in his administration had the power to award a contract beyond N25 million.
But in his reply, Agunloye dismissed Obasanjo’s claim and denied any wrongdoing.
He said he was being picked on as the fall guy for the government’s mishandling of the project, while those who were responsible for it were left off the hook.
According to Agunloye, the contract for the project was duly awarded in 2003 by the Obasanjo administration on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis to deliver Nigeria’s biggest power plant with a 3,050 megawatts capacity at no cost to the Nigerian government.
The project was expected to significantly boost electricity to address the shortage of energy in the country.
“The former president was not correct when he referred to the award to Sunrise simply as a $6 billion contract (that is, N800 billion in 2003) under his watch. In truth, it was a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract in which the FGN did not need to pay any amount to the contractor, Messrs Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (Sunrise).
“As a matter of fact, Sunrise has not been paid a single Naira or Dollar by the FGN from 2000 till date (14/9/23). Sunrise was to source for funds and execute the project with its own funds. The investment of Sunrise to construct the Mambilla hydroelectric project up to the completion stage to deliver electricity was adjudged at a maximum of $6 billion by four Ministers of Power and the former president (Chief Obasanjo) before I became Minister of Power. Sunrise was to recoup its investment from the sale of the generated electricity over a 30- to 40-year period at predetermined tariffs, also agreed with FGN before May 2003.”
Agunloye stated that in 2003, Obasanjo changed his mind and decided to award the contract, “by paying from government own funds.”
“The former President decided, therefore, to break the Mambilla Hydropower Project into smaller components, like civil engineering works, hydraulic works, structural works etc. with the intention to award them as separate multiple contracts as government procurements, on cash and carry basis, for which Nigerian Government would pay mobilisation fees and make other payments in stages to contractors.
“When one of the contractors, which got a component of the Mambilla project awarded by President Obasanjo as $1.46 billion procurement contract, presented its request for a $400 million mobilisation fees, President Yar’Adua scrutinised the contract and cancelled it in 2008 because of proven corruption on the part of officials who served under President Obasanjo between 2003 to 2007,” he stated.
Agunloye said following the termination of the contract, the company sued the Nigerian government before an international arbitration court where it is claiming that the termination of the contract was illegal.
He said he was being set up as a scapegoat by the Nigerian government to escape sanction for abandoning contractual agreements on the project.
