Posted by Samuel on Thu 23rd Jan, 2025 - tori.ng
Obasanjo, who had in an interview he granted TheCable in 2023, queried his former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, how he got the prerogative to award the contract to Sunrise in 2003, testified before the ICC on Wednesday.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari is set to testify today before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France, regarding the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings filed against Nigeria by Sunrise Power over an alleged contract breach by the federal government.
Daily Trust had on Monday reported that both Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo were in Paris because of the case.
Obasanjo, who had in an interview he granted TheCable in 2023, queried his former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, how he got the prerogative to award the contract to Sunrise in 2003, testified before the ICC on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya, testified before the ICC in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings his company filed against Nigeria.
Sunrise, on October 10, 2017, started the arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC, Paris, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract” in relation to 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 described Sunrise Power as a middleman.
The minister had said the Buhari administration was directly contracting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese firm, currently handling the project.
After several negotiations, a former Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, had, in 2020, reportedly said the parties had reached an out-of-court settlement of $200 million.
The court battle took a new turn when Sunrise later filed a $400 million compensation claim at the ICC against the government for breaching the new agreement.
The company had said the sum was to serve as an out-of-court settlement which the government allegedly failed to 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 legal representative, Femi Falana, then filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Arbitration on May 11, demanding $400 million as overall claims, including penalties.
According to Sunrise in its claim document, 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 had also said it was agreed in the pact signed that it would be restored as the local partner for the current $5.8 billion Mambilla power project.
A follow-up on this showed that the pact was revised and the local partner condition was removed. The federal government later requested a review of the negotiation, citing the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the Nigerian economy.
Buhari had also written to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, denying authorising the settlement agreement of 2020.
He had stated: “While I understood that my ministers of justice, power and water resources were approached by Sunrise and were engaging with various stakeholders that were involved in the project to resolve the issues blocking the project’s implementation, at no time did I specifically instruct them to enter into and conclude any settlement agreement with Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.
“Indeed, when the proposed settlement agreement and addendum were presented to me for my consideration and approval on 20th April, 2020, I refused to approve the settlement deal because I was convinced that there was no basis for Sunrise’s claim.
“I hope the above clarifications will assist you in your defence of our country from these ‘invisible contractors who all too often quietly take Nigeria for many millions in out-of-court settlements’, as I stated in my recent statement regarding Nigeria’s victory in the P&ID saga”, the former president said.