The Third Prosecution Witness, PW3, Umar Babangida in the trial of the former Minister of Power and Steel Development, Olu Agunloye, on Monday, June 16, 2025, told Justice J.O. Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Federal Executive Council, FEC, did not grant any contract approval to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, the company that lifted the Mambila Power Project contract.
According to the witness, “The former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who presided over the FEC meeting of 23 May, 2003, wrote to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice on 27 November, 2023 where he provided details of what happened at the FEC meeting and confirmed that he did not give approval to the then Minister of Power and Steel to award the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited. He thereafter wrote to the Federal Ministry of Justice, requesting for the Certified True Copy, CTC of the letter by Chief Obasanjo and received response of the said letter.
“We reviewed the CTC of the document where the former President stated that he received a memorandum from the former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye and he minuted on the document and directed the Minister of Power and Steel to submit the memo to FEC for deliberation, but he did not give approval to the minister for the award of the contract and neither was approval given at FEC on 21 May, 2003.
Testifying further, he said, “In furtherance of the response by the former President Obasanjo, on 7th February, 2024, the investigating team met with former President where he further informed the team that he did not give approval to the then Minister of Power to award the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited which the former President put in writing and signed. The former President told us that he did not give approval to the then Minister of Power and Steel, that the minister was directed by the FEC meeting on 21 May, 2003 to withdraw his memorandum; that the letter issued on 22 May, 2003, by the then minister, awarding the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited was not on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, he said.
The witness further informed the court that in spite of a presidential directive to the defendant to withdraw and nullify the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU he has formulated with Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and open up the space for more competitive bidding for the Mambilla Hydro-power Project, he went ahead and yielded the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, 24 hours after the directive.
“The defendant who was the then Minister of Power and Steel was directed to withdraw his memorandum and invite more investors for the Mambilla Hydro Power Project but 24 hours after, on 22 May, 2003, he awarded the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited without approval or authorization contrary to the directive of the President and the Federal Executive Council, FEC,” he said.
Agunloye is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a seven-count charge, bordering on fraudulent award of the contract and official corruption to the tune of $6billion (Six Billion Dollars).
The witness, an investigator with the EFCC, also informed the court that his team while reviewing the financial records of the former minister discovered that he received money, running into millions of naira from one Shotire Jide Abiodun of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
