A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr Olu Agunloye, today refuted before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim in his letter to the current Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice that Agunloye did not bring a memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project, saying that the former minister indeed brought a memo to FEC on the project.
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The witness, Umar Hussain Babangida, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), said this while being cross-examined by counsel for Agunloye, Adeola Adedipe SAN, at the resumed hearing in the ongoing trial of the former minister before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, sitting at Apo, Abuja.
Agunloye is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on behalf of the Federal Government, on an amended seven-count charge bordering on disobeying presidential directive, conspiracy, forgery and receiving gratification.
He was alleged to have, while serving as a minister, conspired with Leno Adesayan of SPTCL to forge a letter titled, “Construction of 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a build, operate and transfer” basis.
He was further alleged to have received gratification from Adesanya to the tune of N5.212million through Jide Abiodun Sotirin through his (Agunloye’s) Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account, for conveying the Federal Government’s approval for the construction of the Mambila Hydroelectric Power Station.
The former minister, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At today’s proceedings in the case, Babangida told the court that Agunloye wrote a letter as a minister to Obasanjo, requesting his consent to issue a letter of consent to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL), the construction of the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project.
The witness, who is the third prosecution witness (PW3) in the case, marked FCT/HC/CR/617/2023, informed the court that the former President, in his minute on Agunloye’s letter, did not object to but asked the defendant to bring a memo to FEC.
Reading from the letter, Babangida said, “The former President minuted that ‘no objection, but bring a memo to Council to include a comparison with coal-fired thermal for 4,000 megawatts to 5,000 megawatts. That was what the former President wrote.”
He further told the court that Agunloye subsequently brought a memo to FEC, and when shown Exhibit EFCC 3D with an attachment marked EC(2003) 15th May, 2003, the PW3 confirmed to the court that the attachment was the memo the former minister brought to FEC.
According to him, an EFCC investigating team had an interview session with Obasanjo in the course of its investigation; however said he could not recollect if the former President told the team he had any personal score to settle with the defendant.
The PW3 added that he was aware that Obasanjo wrote in his letter to the AGF that he would love to testify against Agunloye in court or arbitration whenever the need arises.
Reading from Obasanjo’s letter, Babangida quoted the former President to have stated that, “I have therefore resolved to make myself available to testify in arbitration or any forum should we consider it necessary in our national interest.”
While saying that he never knew Obasanjo’s intention in mentioning Agunloye and others, the witness told the court that he was aware that the former President stated in his letter to the AGF that Agunloye did not bring a memo to FEC.
He, however, said that, “I don’t know if what he (Obasanjo) stated is true.”
The witness further informed the court that EFCC investigators drew the attention of Obasanjo to the existence of a contract award of May 22, 2003, but added that they did not tell him that the contract was the root cause of an international arbitration in Paris.
He then informed that the import of Obasanjo’s interrogation was to confirm if there was approval or not by the former President at the FEC meeting of May 21, 2003 and to confirm if the defendant (Agunloye) had approval to issue the letter of May 22, 2003, to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
The witness then said that though Obasanjo was aware of the contract, he claimed in his letter to the AGF that there was no contract awarded to SPTCL for the Mambilla project during his administration.
“He (Obasanjo) was aware of the contract, but there was no approval, which was clearly documented by the Federal Executive Council.
“He stated that no contract was awarded during his administration because there was no approval to award the contract,” Babangida told the court.
Meanwhile, the case has been adjourned to Wednesday, December 3, for continuation of cross-examination of the PW3.
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