Former Minister of Power Olu Agunloye’s defence group questioned former Cross Rivers State Governor Liyel Imoke on the FCT High Court in Abuja to justify the award of the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Power project in 2003.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is prosecuting Mr Agunloye on numerous corruption expenses, together with awarding the contract with out the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and in violation of a presidential directive.
However, Mr Agunloye’s defence group sought to disprove the acclaimed violations on Monday through the use of Mr Imoke’s testimony. Mr Imoke succeeded Mr Agunloye as power minister in 2003 throughout then-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.
Mr Imoke, the sixth prosecution witness, mentioned on 19 October, when he opened his testimony, that the FEC by no means permitted the contract, which preceded his appointment as minister.
The former governor mentioned he realized of the FEC’s refusal to approve the contract from studying the minutes of the council’s 21 May 2003 assembly the place the matter was deliberated.
Following his testimony, defence lawyer Adeola Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), sought to decide holes in Mr Imoke’s declare on Monday, by elevating doubts relating to the council’s adoption of the minutes of the 21 May 2003 assembly.
Mr Adedipe famous that the 21 May 2003 FEC assembly was the final to be held throughout Mr Obasanjo’s first time period earlier than the cupboard was dissolved.
He mentioned it’s unsure if the following FEC adopted the mentioned minutes.
Under cross-examination by the defence, Mr Imoke confirmed that the 21 May 2003 FEC assembly was the final held by the council throughout Mr Obasanjo’s first time period.
Speaking on the workings of the FEC conferences, he defined that the council’s selections had been extracted from the minutes, which “are read and considered page by page” on the following FEC assembly.
When requested how the 21 May 2003 minutes had been adopted, Mr Imoke replied that “the extracts were circulated after the council was dissolved.”
He mentioned he was not privy to the adoption of the FEC assembly since he was not a minister or a council member as of May 2003. He was solely appointed minister in July 2003 throughout Mr Obasanjo’s second time period in workplace.
“I wasn’t a member of the Council. I didn’t develop into minister till August 2003. I don’t need to make any assumptions on one thing I’ve no data of.
“I don’t have knowledge of the adoption. I can’t recall. This happened in 2003.”
Mr Agunloye faces seven expenses, together with disobedience to a presidential directive, conspiracy, forgery and receiving gratification.
The expenses stemmed from his roles in awarding the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power contract in May 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL).
The project was a proposed 3,050 MW hydroelectric facility positioned in Kakara village, Taraba State, which by no means noticed the sunshine of day.
The prosecution mentioned Mr Agunloye disobeyed a presidential directive issued in 2003 throughout a Federal Executive Council assembly relating to the contract.
It added that Mr Agunloye disobeyed the directive by signing a letter addressed to SPTCL, purportedly conveying “the approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the construction of the 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.”
The EFCC additionally accused Mr Agunloye of conspiring with Leno Adesanya, the most important promoter of SPTCL, who the company indicated was at massive, to falsify a doc titled “Construction of 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” in 2003.
Other allegations embrace receiving gratifications of over N5 million from SPTCL and Mr Adesanya.
Mr Agunloye has denied all seven expenses.
An arbitration tribunal just lately exonerated Nigeria relating to the contract after discovering that the award of the contract to SPTCL was tainted by bribery.
Cross-examination on FEC minutes of assembly to proceed
The defence couldn’t conclude Mr Imoke’s cross-examination on Monday.
Following Mr Imoke’s doubt in regards to the adoption of the minutes of the 21 May 2023 FEC assembly, defence lawyer Mr Adedipe requested that different paperwork beforehand accepted by the court docket as reveals needs to be handed over to him to verify for any proof of adoption of the minutes by the following council.
“It will take me sometimes to go through all of these documents,” Mr Imoke mentioned when he was handed the paperwork on Monday.
On the request of prosecution lawyer Abba Mohammed, trial decide Jude Onwuegbuzie, adjourned the case till 11 November.
Controversial minutes
The minutes of the 21 May 2003 minutes had been a topic of contestation throughout earlier proceedings.
In November 2025, the third prosecution witness, Umar Babangida, an EFCC investigator, instructed the court docket that the contract award letter dated 22 May 2003, allegedly issued by Mr Agunloye, was cast.
Mr Babangida testified that EFCC investigations discovered no document displaying FEC permitted the contract and maintained that the award didn’t observe due course of.
He additionally instructed the court docket that investigators obtained data displaying 40 ministers attended the 21 May 2003 FEC assembly and that no approval was granted for the contract at that assembly.
Under cross-examination in March, nevertheless, the identical witness acknowledged that the defendant lowered the federal authorities’s fairness participation in the project from an preliminary proposed 25 per cent to no more than 10 per cent, a distinction he agreed amounted to $900 million, although he insisted the discount was carried out with out presidential approval.
The witness additionally confirmed the EFCC alleged Mr Agunloye obtained N5.2 million in 2019 from businessman Leno Adesanya by way of an middleman, an allegation the previous minister has disputed, sustaining the cash was associated to a medical emergency.
The fourth prosecution witness, Ugochukwu Okoli, testified in April that the copy of the minutes tendered in the case originated from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
READ ALSO: $6 billion Mambilla Power Contract: Ex-governor Liyel Imoke testifies against former power minister Agunloye
Mr Okoli mentioned he dealt with a request from the EFCC for licensed extracts of the FEC minutes whereas serving on a posting from the Federal Ministry of Justice to the SGF’s workplace as an assistant authorized adviser.
He instructed the court docket that in September 2022, the SGF’s workplace obtained a letter from the EFCC requesting the extract of the minutes of the 21 May 2003 FEC assembly regarding a memo offered by the then Minister of Power on the proposed 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.
Controversial contract
The project, first awarded in 2003 to SPTCL by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, is the topic of a long time of a authorized dispute. An arbitration tribunal in Paris just lately resolved the matter in favour of Nigeria and in opposition to SPTCL, which had accused Nigeria of breach of contract.
Mr Obasanjo, in 2023, accused Mr Agunloye of fraudulently awarding the contract to the corporate with out approval.
However, the previous minister denied these claims, alleging that he was getting used as a scapegoat to escape sanctions by the arbitration panel in Paris for abandoning contractual agreements on the project.
The project, meant to generate 3,960 megawatts of electrical energy, was designed to be executed on a construct, function, and switch foundation.
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