The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the remand of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in the Kuje Correctional Service over an alleged $6bn fraud in connection to the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.
Agunloye served as minister between 1999 and 2003 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arraigned Agunloye before Justice J.O. Onwuegbuzie on Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him.
The judge, however, ordered that the embattled former minister be remanded in Kuje Correctional Service pending the hearing of his bail application.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement on Wednesday that Agunloye was arraigned on seven counts bordering on “fraudulent award of contract and official corruption.”
In one of the charges, the EFCC alleged that on May 22, 2003, awarded a contract, titled “Construction of 3,960mw Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited “without any budgetary provision, approval and cash backing.”
The anti-graft agency said by so doing the ex-minister violated Section 22(4) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
In another count, Agunloye was alleged to have on August 10, 2019 “corruptly received the sum of N3.6m from Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and Leno Adesanya for having conveyed the ‘approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the construction of the 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station’ in favour of SPTCL, which you did whilst serving as the Minister of Power and Steel without the approval of the Federal Executive Council.”
When the charges were read to him, the ex-minister pleaded not guilty.
Thereafter, prosecution counsel, Abba Muhammed, prayed the court for a trial date and to remand the defendant in a correctional centre.
The defence counsel, Adola Adedipe (SAN), informed the court that he had filed a bail application for his client.
However, Justice Onwuegbuzie said the bail application would be heard on January 11 and ordered Agunloye to be remanded in custody until then.
Recall that Agunloye served as a minister during Obasanjo’s first term in office but at the moment, the relationship between ex-minister and ex-president is no longer cordial.
In December, Obasanjo told TheCable he was ready to testify for Nigeria “in any forum” against Agunloye over the disputed Mambila power contract.
Obasanjo challenged Agunloye to tell Nigerians where he derived the power to award the $6bn contract.
The EFCC in December 2023, declared Agunloye wanted, saying: “The public is hereby notified that Olu Agunloye, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in an alleged case of corruption and forgery.”
The ex-minister was arrested and taken into custody on December 13 and was later released to his lawyer on December 20, 2023.
