A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, January 10, ordered the remand of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunlo
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had arraigned Agunloye over allegations of fraud in the Mambilla Power Project.
Agunloye was brought before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read against him.
The judge, however, ordered that the embattled former minister be remanded in prison pending when bail would be granted.
EFCC had Agunloye wanted over $6,000,000,000 (N4 trillion) in fraud.
He served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo between the year 1999 and 2003.
The anti-graft agency made this known through a post on its Facebook account, appealing that anyone with information about his whereabouts should report to the agency or the police.
The post reads, “Dr. U Agunloye is wanted by the EFCC. Do you know his whereabouts? Please don’t hesitate to inform the EFCC or the nearest Police Station.”
It was gathered that the anti-graft agency had invited the former minister of power for questioning over his role in the $6,000,000,000 Mambila hydropower contract but he did not honor their invitation.
While Agunloye was serving under the former president, the Mambilla power project was approved but allegedly without the approval of the Federal Executive Council, FEC.
In an interview, Obasanjo insisted that he was not in the know of who awarded the contract.
The former president challenged Agunloye to tell Nigerians where he derived the authority to award the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited in respect of the project in 2003.
In his response, the former minister said the nature of the initial contract for the Mambilla Power Project was awarded as a build-operate-and-transfer contract in May 2003 under his watch.
He said the government was not obliged to pay a kobo to Sunrise under the build, operate, and transfer (BOT) agreement as it was to be fully funded by the newly registered company, whose declared assets were worth less than $2,000 (N1,579,000) at the time.
