- Ex-minister maintains innocence, seeks arrest, detention of individuals involved
- Says health deteriorated severely during incarceration by EFCC
A former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, has called for the detention of individuals directly or indirectly linked to the alleged scam involving the Mambilla power project.
Agunloye said this in a statement issued on Thursday by his friend, Oluwafisan Bankale.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission released the former Minister to a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Adeola Adedipe, around 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday.
His release from detention notwithstanding, the erstwhile minister maintained that the Mambilla Power Project, fiasco of billion dollar dimension, remains as puzzle riddle, enigma, paradox that must be laid bare completely.
He said all players in the making of this fiasco must be identified publicly and brought to book.
According to him, “Such a move at this moment provides this government the much needed straw to clutch on to demonstrate its readiness, or otherwise, to rid our dear country of these debilitating problems of corruption hoisted on the German foundation of impunity.”
He argued that the charges of fraud and forgery against him will not stick, knowing who he is.
“My spirits are high and have been high all along. I am innocent of the charges brought against me by EFCC. I am innocent of the International Arbitration on the Mambilla Project in France.
“I came out of EFCC detention at about midday yesterday, 20th December. I thank God for His mercies and graciousness. I also thank my family members, friends, associates, and God-sent facilitators for their roles and concerns. May God bless them all.
“I am currently battling my health issues, which deteriorated very badly during the incarceration by EFCC,” Agunloye added.
The EFCC had rearrested the ex-minister on December 13, 2023, after getting an arrest warrant following allegations that Agunloye jumped bail.
EFCC sources privy to the development said that Agunloye would be arraigned in court in January 2024 on charges of official corruption and forgery to the tune of N6bn.
Over a week ago, the EFCC declared Agunloye wanted in connection with an alleged N6bn scam involving the contentious Mambilla hydropower project.
Agunloye was a minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government (1999-2003).
He has since been at the centre of the controversy about the Mambilla project.
He was accused by Obasanjo of illegally awarding the project’s contract without the Federal Executive Council’s consent.
Agunloye has since denied the allegation.
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.
