Umar Babangida, a witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says the federal executive council (FEC) directed Olu Agunloye, a former minister of power and steel, to withdraw the award of the Mambilla power project from Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTCL).
Agunloye is facing an amended seven-count charge bordering on disobedience to presidential directives, gratification, and forgery before Jude Onwuegbuzie, a judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court sitting in Apo, Abuja.
The EFCC had alleged that Agunloye, on May 22, 2003, knowingly disobeyed the directive of the president made at the FEC meeting of May 21, 2023, by approving a contract with SPTCL for the construction of the 3,960 MW Mambila hydroelectric power station, an act said to be contrary to section 123 of the penal code.
Babangida appeared before the court on Tuesday in continuation of his testimony in Agunloye’s trial.
According to a statement by the EFCC, Adeola Adedipe, counsel to Agunloye, continued Babangida’s cross-examination during Tuesday’s court proceedings.
The witness told the court that FEC did not ask the former minister to reduce the contract details to 10 percent of government equity participation but rather directed him to withdraw the award memo.
When asked if he had seen the opinion letter authored by Michael Aondoakaa, a former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, to the federal government for the revival of the contract award, the witness said the letter is the opinion of the ex-AGF.
Asked about another legal opinion written by Abubakar Malami, former AGF, to the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, which supported Aondoakaa’s views on the Mambilla power project, the witness insisted that the content of the letter is Malami’s opinion.
When the witness was asked if he knew in 2012 that there were terms of settlement entered in respect of the award of contract to SPTCL between the former minister of power, AGF, and two others, he was overruled by the court following an objection to it by the prosecution counsel, Abba Mohammed, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Asked if he was aware of the law on the privatisation of various aspects of the power supply chain and to cite any law that mandates agencies of the federal government to obtain FEC approval before issuing contract awards, the prosecution counsel, again, objected to the question.
Mohammed argued that the question is “hypothetical, not factual and in the realm of speculation”.
The case was adjourned to Wednesday, February 18.
In October 2025, Babangida told the court that there was no specific presidential directive issued to Agunloye to award the Mambilla hydroelectric power station contract.
