The contractor handling the $6 billion 3.9 megawatts (MW) Mambilla Hydro-power project, Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, has said there was due process in the award of the contract.
In a statement, the company’s Chairman, Leno Adesanya, faulted the Economic and Financial Crimes Committee (EFCC) for declaring him wanted.
Adesanya also said his company had no regrets about paying the medical and travel expenses of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr. Olu Agunloye.
Agunloye is on trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged fraud in the contract award to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company.
In an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, Adesanya faulted EFCC for accusing him of bribing Agunloye 21 years after he left office with N3.6 million by paying his medical bill and travel expenses.
“This criminalisation strategy of the Federal Government using institutions, including the EFCC, is manifest in alleging that I facilitated the payments of N3.5 million, N500,000 and N1.12 million (a total of N5.22 million) to Dr. Agunloye in 2019 for his medical treatment in Florida (the United States of America).
“This is laughable because Dr. Agunloye left the government 21 years ago and ceased to be a public officer in 2001.
“There is no alignment between my kindness of 2019 and the build, operate and transfer (BOT) contract of 2003.
“Who waits for bribes to be paid 16 years after a contract has been awarded?
“Which minister will collect N12 million bribe for a $6 billion (today’s rate N11 trillion) BOT contract? Definitely not a Nigerian security guard, let alone a minister.
“In the absence of any credible defence to Sunrise’s claims, the Federal Government, through the EFCC, has continued to desperately hunt down potential witnesses and to scandalise the underlying contract.
“In support of this objective, the EFCC has now secretly filed a charge against SPTC (in charge Number: FCT/HC/CR/618/2023 between the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Sunrise) pending in a court located in the remote village of Jikowi, on the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and bounded by Nasarawa State.
“To date, the said charge has not been served on me or Sunrise.
“However, to create leverage in the ongoing dispute, the Federal Government, acting through the EFCC, has now hurriedly declared me a ‘wanted person’ without any justification.
“It is on record that I relocated out of Nigeria in December 2017 due to an assassination attempt on me in December 2017.”
Insisting that he is not on the run, Adesanya added: “I am not missing and have never been missing. I have always made known my willingness to meet and work with Nigerian law enforcement officials at any location where there will be no threat to my life or person.
“Nigerians, what is more fundamental in all that I have said is the need to really understand why the Mambilla project has been stalled for years. One is endemic corruption, and the most dangerous is the issue of the ethnic card.”
Adesanya said he was told sometime in March 2020 that “the North will never allow a Yoruba man to be the local content partner for the Mambilla project”.
Explaining the role of his company in the project, Adesanya said: “In 2001, we established Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTC) as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to drive this power project.
“In furtherance thereof, SPTC established working relationships with several Chinese state conglomerates, such as North China Power Group (NCPG), China Hydroelectric companies (Sinohydro Corporation of China), and China State Construction (CSCEC).
“Sunrise arranged several meetings for the FGN, and these included meetings in Nigeria and China for then President (Olusegun) Obasanjo and the then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, and, as a result, two Chinese Presidents visited Nigeria to discuss the Mambilla Project with the FGN.
“The construction of the Mambilla project was based strictly on a Build, Operate and Transfer structure (BOT) without any funds from the FGN, which means that SPTC and its Chinese partners would source for the funds.
“To date, no money has ever been paid by the FGN to Sunrise and/or Leno Adesanya in respect of the BOT contract.
“Accordingly, in 2002, the then Power Minister, Dr. (Olusegun) Agagu, of blessed memory, initiated an international tender and bidding process, and based on the analysis of the tenders, the committee recommended the Sunrise Chinese Consortium of Sinohydro and NCPG for final negotiations, which led to President Obasanjo’s written approval in November 2002; before Dr. Olu Agunleye was appointed Power Minister.
“In April 2003, Dr. Olu Agunloye, in compliance with earlier approval of November 2002, sought and obtained then President Obasanjo’s ‘No Objection’ written Approval to award the $6 billion BOT contract to Sunrise – without any financial commitment from the FGN.”
Adesanya said former President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that existing agreements be honoured, but it was not complied with.
He added: “Stunned by its manifest lack of any defence or justification for the unilateral cancellation and breach of its binding contractual obligations to Sunrise, and the likelihood of being found liable for breach of contract, the FGN through its various security agencies has now resorted to attempting to criminalise and scandalise the Mambilla Power Project with the sole aim of evading the consequent legal contractual obligations of the Federal Government arising from breaches of agreements with Sunrise.
“As a sign of good faith, if the Federal Government is fully determined to execute the 3050MW Mambilla hydropower project as approved by then President Yar’Adua, and reconfirmed severally by President Goodluck Jonathan, I am ready to mobilise my Chinese Consortium partners only if His Excellency Mr. President will personally sign all the financial commitments to the Chinese Eximbank, Corporate and Financial Institutions who had demonstrated their commitments to the project in the past.”