Alleged Mambilla Project Fraud: EFCC wants to tarnish my reputation, ex-minister tells court

A former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, told the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has tarnished his reputation in relation to the Mambilla Power Project.

Mr Agunloye said this while being cross-examined by the counsel for the EFCC, Wahab Shittu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in the defamation case he filed against the commission. The case is before Judge Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court.

But the former minister faces fraud charges EFCC filed against him regarding the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract. The criminal case is before Judge Jude Onwuegbuzie, of the same FCT High Court.

He contended in his defamation suit, marked FCT/HC/CV/1199/2024, that EFCC has damaged his good name.

“The EFCC is dragging my integrity into murky waters by charging me with corruption and fraud through a post published on its official website,” he said.

He similarly accused other allied online platforms of similar, with the caption, “EFCC arraigns Agunloye over $6billion fraud”.

Through his lawyer, Adeola Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Agunloye also sought an order for the EFCC to retract the defamatory publication against him and tender unreserved apologies.

He further sought the payment of compensation of N1 billion as general and exemplary damage to him.

Mr Agunloye told the court that the EFCC’s publication has put him in the situation of not awarding a built, operate and transfer project at no cost to the Federal Government but awarding a $6billion contract.

“It is a deliberate attempt by the EFCC to push things around, misinform the public and paint me as one reckless minister who was involved in a $6 billion contract and was eventually captured.

“It is an attempt to say that I awarded the contract without approval and to have taken bribe of N5million 16 years after and damage the only property I have, which is my name.”

He told the court that he was the Minister of Power when he wrote a memo to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the Mambilla project, which was a built, operate and transfer basis.

Asked if he obtained the approval of the then president, he said he requested the president to approve the project and the president approved it.

He added that he took a memo to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as directed by the then President Obasanjo.

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Mr Agunloye informed the court that the Mambilla project he awarded in 2003 was not the subject of the international arbitration.

He told the court that he was aware that the federal government was challenging matters arising from the Mambilla contract that was awarded in 2017 by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and not the one he awarded in 2003.

According to him, the federal government cancelled the contract he awarded in 2003, which he said was at zero cost to the government. He said the government re-awarded the contract six times but ran into trouble the sixth time in 2017.

The judge, Mr Kekemeke, adjourned the matter till 30 October for the EFCC to open its defence.

(NAN)