Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has informed the federal government that he is ready to testify for Nigeria “in any forum” over the disputed Mambilla power contract.
The former president declared readiness to testify against his former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in the $2.3 billion disputed contract.
Sunrise Power alleged at the International Chamber of Commerce in France that there was a breach of contract between it and Nigeria.
According to the company, the government of former President Obasanjo contracted it to build, operate, and transfer power in May 2003 at the rate of $6 billion.
It, however, told the ICC that the Federal Government of Nigeria went back on its agreement and is asking for compensation of $2.3 billion.
The company is further claiming that it had already spent millions of dollars on financial and legal consultants before the contract was jettisoned.
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In its defence at the arbitration, Nigeria is alleging fraud and corruption of public officials in the award of the contract — similar to the P&ID case in which a UK court nullified an $11 billion award against the country for similar reasons.
However, in his letter to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, Obasanjo declared an express readiness to testify on behalf of the Nigerian government.
In his letter to Fagbemi, Obasanjo said, “What is abundantly clear is that at no time did Dr Agunloye comply with the foregoing directive by bringing a memo to Council to include the [stated] comparison; nor can my directive be stretched to be inclusive of any approval to award any contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited or any other person.
“In any event, my directive as stated above cannot by any stretch of imagination reasonably be extended to mean that issuing ‘a letter of comfort’ translates to an award of contract.
“It is therefore clear that at no time was any contract awarded to Sunrise Power by anyone in my Administration.”
Earlier, Obasanjo had challenged Agunloye, who was minister of power at the time, to tell Nigerians where he derived the authority to award a $6 billion contract to Sunrise, saying that no minister had the authority to commit Nigeria to beyond N25 million without express presidential consent when he was in office.