A witness told the FCT High Court in Apo, Abuja, on Wednesday that former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, failed to follow the directive of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) regarding the award of the controversial Mambilla power project in 2003.
Umar Babangida, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told the court that FEC kicked against the proposal requiring the federal government to pay $1.5billion as its 25 per cent equity participation in the $6 billion power project.
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The witness said the FEC, rather than approve the proposal, asked Mr Agunloye to explore other options that would ensure the government’s reduced contribution to the project.
Mr Agunloye is embroiled in an alleged $6 billion Mambilla power project fraud case, in which the EFCC is prosecuting him on seven counts of forgery, receiving gratification, and disobedience to presidential directives regarding the contract award in May 2003.
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The project was a proposed 3,960 MW hydroelectric facility located in Kakara village, Taraba State, which never saw the light of the day.
The prosecution said Mr Agunloye disobeyed the directive by signing a letter “addressed to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (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 anti-graft agency first arraigned him in 2024. But following an amendment of the charges, he was re-arraigned in September 2025. Mr Agunloye pleaded not guilty to the charges on both occasions.
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He has also described the charges as “baseless, false and malicious.”
Wednesday’s proceedings featured the cross-examination of prosecution witness Babangida by defence lawyer Adeola Adedipe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Mr Adedipe asked the witness if the FEC asked Mr Agunloye to withdraw the memorandum and get a lesser deal.
The witness replied, “Yes, the minister was asked to withdraw the memorandum and to engage investors in constructive negotiations, but the defendant failed to do so.”
Mr Adedipe then asked Mr Babangida to read the letter of award to SPTCL authored by the defendant, dated 22 May 2003.
The content of the letter disclosed that the award of the contract to SPTCL was reduced from 25 per cent to between zero per cent and not more than 10 per cent.
Mr Babangida said that while that was true, in reality, it was not what transpired.
Obasanjo’s angle
The witness also said prior to the presentation of the memorandum to the FEC, then-President Olusegun Obasanjo asked Mr Agunloye to add N11 billion to the already appropriated N6 billion for the take-off of the Mambila project.
Mr Obasanjo has been critical of Mr Agunloye over the project in recent years. He said last year that he testified in the arbitration proceedings in France regarding the contractual disputes arising from the projects to counter Mr Agunloye’s claims about the matter.
Mr Umar, who started testifying as the prosecution witness last year, also said in his testimony in December 2025 that Mr Obasanjo had indicated his interest in testifying in the ongoing trial.
He also told the court that his team of EFCC investigators had already interviewed Mr Obasanjo regarding the case.
Mr Babangida, who was testifying then under cross-examination by defence lawyer, Mr Adedipe, also said Mr Obasanjo insisted the FEC under his leadership as the then-president, never approved the award of the contract in 2003 as claimed by Mr Agunloye.
But at the resumed cross-examination by the defence lawyer on Wednesday, Mr Babangida, an Assistant said Mr Obasanjo gave Mr Agunloye a directive to add N11 billion to the project cost at a private meeting held the night before the FEC meeting in 2003.
He said Mr Obasanjo asked Mr Agunloye to include the N11 billion cost in a memorandum to be submitted at the FEC meeting, Mr Babangida said.
The witness said Mr Obasanjo disclosed his directives at the FEC meeting but did not provide the full details of the private meeting with Mr Agunloye.
“The details of the discussion of the previous day were not fully given by the former president, and it was preparatory to the final approval by the FEC,” the witness said.
However, he added that upon deliberation, the FEC kicked against the addition. Instead, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and a sitting minister whose name was not mentioned called for a reduced government participation.
When Mr Adedipe asked the witness if this served as the basis for the withdrawal of the memorandum directed by Mr Obasanjo, Mr Babangida said, “That is not entirely correct.”
“There were several observations raised by the former vice president and the members of the executive council.”
Trial judge Jude Onwuegbuzie adjourned the case until 2 February.
Babangida’s previous testimony
During cross-examination on Monday, the witness told the court that Mr Agunloye followed Mr Obasanjo’s instructions by ensuring 25 per cent government participation when he recommended SPTCL for the project.
Mr Babangida stated that the SPTCL had proposed 35 per cent government participation in the project, while Tafag Nigeria Limited proposed 25 per cent.
But Mr Obasanjo insisted on the same parameters for both companies, maintaining that the government should not take more than 25 per cent stake in the project, the witness said.
Mr Babangida also quoted Mr Obsanjo’s response to a letter by Mr Agunloye’s predecessor as power minister, Olusegun Agagu.
According to the witness, Mr Obasanjo wrote, “Minister, approved. Please, give the two the same parameter, that is, the Federal Government’s participation not higher than 25 per cent. The tariff should not be higher than the prevailing tariff of thermal plants.”
In June 2024, a compliance officer with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Adebayo Ilori, narrated how one Jude Sotirin, a staff member of SPTCL, transferred multiple times money amounting to N5 million to Mr Agunloye.
However, another witness, Adewale Agunbiade, a former bank compliance officer, declined to testify because he no longer worked for the bank and lacked authorisation from his present employer to speak in court.
Background
The project, first awarded in 2003 to SPTCL by the 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.
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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