Former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, as well as the former Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, are in Paris, France to testify in the ongoing arbitration case involving the $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, THISDAY has learnt.
This is just as President Bola Tinubu declared yesterday that those defending Nigeria in the said case are doing so based on conviction and patriotism, adding that he has no intention of involving any Nigerian.
However, due to the confidentiality of arbitration proceedings, THISDAY will not report the story in details.
Nigeria is accused of breaching the terms of the power project contract awarded to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited by former President Obasanjo in 2003.
Obasanjo’s administration had on or about May 22, 2003, awarded the contract for constructing a 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
The former president had accused the Minister of Power and Steel, under his administration, Dr. Olu Agunloye, of fraudulently awarding the contract for the project without the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
However, Agunloye rejected the former president’s accounts on the project, alleging that the Nigerian government was using him as a scapegoat to escape sanction for abandoning contractual agreements on the project.
Agunloye insisted that the contract for the project was duly awarded in 2003 by the Obasanjo’s administration on a Build, Operate, and Transfer basis.
But Buhari’s administration was said to have communicated the decision to cancel the agreement to the promoter of Sunrise Power, Mr. Leno Adesanya, and Mambilla Power in April 2020.
Credit: ThisDay
