EFCC: Agunloye Awarded $6bn Contract Without Approval

The third prosecution witness, Umar Babangida, on Monday, June 16, 2025, told Justice J.O. Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Apo, that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) did not approve the award of the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

Babangida, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), testified in the ongoing trial of Dr. Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power and Steel Development, who is facing a seven-count charge bordering on fraudulent contract award and official corruption.

According to the witness, former President Obasanjo, who presided over the FEC meeting of May 21, 2003, had in a letter dated November 27, 2023, addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, clarified that he neither approved the contract nor authorized Agunloye to do so. The EFCC subsequently obtained the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the letter from the Ministry of Justice.

“We reviewed the CTC of the document where the former President stated that he received a memorandum from Agunloye and only minuted on it, directing the minister to present it before FEC for deliberation. No approval was granted by the President or the FEC,” Babangida said.

He further testified that on February 7, 2024, the EFCC team met with the former President, who reaffirmed in writing that he never gave Agunloye approval to award the contract. Obasanjo stated that the FEC had actually directed the minister to withdraw his memorandum during its meeting of May 21, 2003.

“Despite this, the minister went ahead and awarded the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited on May 22, 2003, just 24 hours later. The letter of award was not issued on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria,” the witness said.

Babangida also told the court that the defendant disregarded a presidential directive to cancel a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) he had signed with Sunrise Power and to reopen the process for competitive bidding for the Mambilla Hydropower Project.

“The defendant, who was the then Minister of Power and Steel, was explicitly directed to withdraw the MoU and invite more investors. However, he went ahead to issue the contract to Sunrise Power the very next day, without any authorization,” he added.

The EFCC investigator further revealed that financial investigations into Agunloye’s bank records showed he received several payments from Shotire Jide Abiodun, a director at Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and personal assistant to the company’s owner, Leno Laitan Adesanya.

“We discovered that on August 10, 2019, the defendant received N3,600,000 (Three Million, Six Hundred Thousand Naira) from Shotire Jide Abiodun through a Guaranty Trust Bank account. On October 22, 2019, he received another N500,000, and on November 13, 2019, another N1,121,000 — all from the same individual,” Babangida stated.

He made these disclosures while being led in evidence by the EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Abba Muhammed, SAN.

Justice Onwuegbuzie adjourned the case until June 18, 2025, for continuation of trial.