Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is to testify on Wednesday before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings filed against Nigeria by Sunrise Power over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government.
Both Obasanjo and former President Muhammadu Buhari were in Paris because of the case.
It was learnt that the Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya, on Tuesday testified before the ICC in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings his company filed against Nigeria.
It would be recalled that had told the TheCable in 2023, that queried his former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, on how he personally awarded the contract to Sunrise in 2003.
“When I was president, no minister had the power to approve more than N25 million without express presidential consent. It was impossible for Agunloye to commit my government to a $6 billion project without my permission and I did not give him any permission.
“If a commission of inquiry is set up today to investigate the matter, I am ready to testify. I do not even need to testify because all the records are there. I never approved it.
“When he presented his memo to the Federal Executive Council (on May 21, 2003), I was surprised because he had previously discussed it with me and I had told him to jettison the idea, that I had other ideas on how the power sector would be restructured and funded.
“I told him as much at the council meeting and directed him to step down the memo. I find it surprising that Agunloye is now claiming he acted on behalf of Nigeria. If I knew he issued such a letter to Sunrise, I would have sacked him as minister during my second term. He would not have spent a day longer in office,” the former president said.
Agunloye had revealed that the FG was not mandated to pay any amount to Sunrise under the build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement.
According to him, the accord stated that the project was to be fully funded by the newly registered company, whose declared assets were worth less than $2,000 at the time.
On October 10, 2017, Sunrise began the arbitration against the FG at the ICC, Paris, demanding a $2.354 billion for “breach of contract” regarding a 2003 agreement to construct the 3,050 megawatt plant in Mambilla, Taraba State, on a “build, operate and transfer” basis valued at $6 billion.
A former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in 2017, had said Sunrise Power was only a middleman, adding that the Buhari administration was directly contracting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese firm, currently handling the project.
Another Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, had, in 2020, said there was an out-of-court settlement of $200 million by the parties involved.
However, Sunrise returned to court and filed a $400 million compensation claim at the ICC against the government for breaching the new agreement.
According to the company, the sum was for an out-of-court settlement which the FG allegedly did not honour as it had agreed to pay in 14 days after it was signed by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Sale Mamman for the government and the Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya.
The company’s counsel, Femi Falana, also filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Arbitration on May 11, demanding $400 million as overall claims, including penalties.
Sunrise said the amount was to be paid “within 14 days” of the execution of the terms of the agreement on January 21, 2020, along with a 10 per cent penalty if there is a default in the settlement terms.
The company said the agreement had it that pact would be restored as the local partner for the current $5.8 billion Mambilla power project.
Subsequently, the pact was revised and the local partner condition was removed with the FG requesting a review of the negotiation, citing the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the Nigerian economy.
