Olu Agunloye didn’t get Obasanjo, FEC’s approval for $6bn Mambilla hydropower contract – witness

A senior Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator, Umar Babangida, asserted before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja that former President Olusegun Obasanjo did not approve the $6 billion Mambilla Hydropower Project contract awarded to Sunrise Power & Transmission Company Limited on May 22, 2003 .

Babangida presented a written statement from Obasanjo acknowledging that he had neither authorised nor sanctioned the contract, which his Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agunloye, issued through a “letter of comfort” despite lacking Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval.

According to Babangida, Obasanjo wrote to the Attorney General on November 27, 2023, emphasizing that any contract over ₦25 million required Presidential and FEC approval—a mandate he maintained Agunloye blatantly disregarded .

When asked to withdraw his memo from the FEC meeting on May 21, 2003, Agunloye proceeded to issue the contract a day later without official clearance .

Babangida further testified that the EFCC investigation traced unauthorised payments totaling ₦5.212 million from Sunrise to Agunloye’s GTBank account between August and November 2019, transferred via Jide Abiodun Sotinrin—a Sunrise Power director .

The EFCC is prosecuting Agunloye on seven counts of forgery, disobedience to presidential directives, and receiving gratification, alleging that he breached regulations by awarding and facilitating the massive power project without due process . Agunloye has pleaded not guilty.

This case is part of a broader legal conflict wherein Sunrise is seeking $2.3 billion in arbitration damages in Paris, citing breach of the award . Obasanjo and former President Muhammadu Buhari have both testified in the ICC arbitration, reinforcing claims that no valid approval existed for the contract .

The court adjourned the matter to June 18 for further proceedings.