The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday re-arraigned a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, over the alleged $6 billion Mambilla Power project.
The anti-corruption agency re-arraigned the former minister before trial judge Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Apo, Abuja.
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He was re-arraigned on amended seven counts of forgery, receiving gratification, and disobedience to presidential directives.
He pleaded not guilty to all seven counts when read to him again on Thursday.
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The re-arraignment followed a fresh amendment of the charges. The amendment does not materially alter the case of the prosecution.
It was the second amendment of the indictment by the EFCC since Mr Agunloye was first arraigned in January 2024.
EFCC first amended the original charges less than a month after it arraigned the defendant. Mr Agunloye was re-arraigned based on the amended charges on 3 February 2024.
Proceedings
Earlier on Thursday, EFCC’s prosecution lawyer, M.K. Hussain, informed the court that the agency had again filed amended charges against the defendant.
Mr Hussain sought the court’s permission to have the altered charges read to the defendant for a fresh plea.
The defence team led by Adeola Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, did not oppose the requests.
According to the amended charges, the former minister disobeyed the directives of the former president made at the Federal Executive Council in 2003.
The prosecution said Mr Agunloye disobeyed the directive by signing a letter “addressed to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited,” 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 anti-graft agency also accused Mr Agunloye of conspiring with Leno Adesanya, which the agency indicated was at large, to falsify a document titled “Construction of 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” in 2003.
Other allegations include receiving gratifications of over N5 million from the company and Mr Adesanya.
Mr Agunloye pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
The judge adjourned proceedings until 9 October for continuation of trial.
State of the case
Thursday’s proceeding was slated for the cross-examination of the third prosecution witness, who was absent from court.
The trial is expected to continue from where it already reached before the latest re-arraignment of the defendant.
The re-arraignment will not require a restart of trial since it is still before the same judge.
In June 2024, a prosecution witness, Adebayo Ilori, a compliance officer with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), narrated in court how one Jude Sotirin, a staff member of Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited, transferred multiple times money amounting to N5 million to Mr Agunloye.
The second prosecution witness, Adewale Agunbiade, a former bank compliance officer, noted that he could not testify in court because he no longer worked for the bank and lacked permission from his present employer to speak in court.
Background
The project, first awarded in 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, is the subject of decades of a legal dispute that is now under international arbitration between the company and the Nigerian government.
Mr Obasanjo, in 2023, accused Mr Agunloye of fraudulently awarding the contract to the company without approval.
However, the former minister dismissed these claims, alleging that he was being used as a scapegoat to escape sanction for abandoning contractual agreements on the project.
The project, intended to generate 3,960 megawatts of electricity, was designed to be executed on a build, operate, and transfer basis.
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In the same year, he was declared wanted by the EFCC over the case.
The day after, he surrendered himself to the EFCC for interrogation over the failed multi-billion-dollar Mambilla Hydropower project.
Mr Agunloye filed a suit against the EFCC, alleging abuse of his fundamental rights.
In March 2024, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the suit.
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