Former President Muhammadu Buhari will take the stand on Monday in the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings filed against Nigeria by Sunrise Power at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government.
Social media posts — since denied by the Nigerian presidency — had claimed Buhari was forced by Tinubu to testify on the disputed Mambilla hydropower project on Saturday.
According to TheCable report, President Olusegun Obasanjo is also in France to give his testimony.
Meanwhile, Michael Aondoaaka, the former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) who had earlier filed a witness statement in support of Sunrise, has suddenly left Paris reportedly claiming that he was summoned back to Nigeria by Tinubu, a claim also denied by the presidency.
This, the report speculated, maybe part of the overall strategy of the Sunrise team to allege witness intimidation by the Nigerian government and secure the sympathy of the tribunal members.
Buhari previously wrote to Lateef Fagbemi, the AGF, in January 2024 denying granting Abubakar Malami, the former AGF, the authority to enter into a $200 million settlement agreement with Sunrise.
THE MAMBILLA SAGA
Sunrise had, on October 10, 2017, started arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, France, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract” in relation to a 2003 agreement to construct the 3,050MW plant in Mambilla, Taraba state, on a “build, operate and transfer” basis valued at $6 billion.
In the second arbitration, the company is asking for a $400 million settlement being the terms of the Nigerian government failing to honour the settlement agreement both parties entered into in 2020 to end the arbitration.
But in an interview in 2023, Obasanjo challenged his former minister of power, Olu Agunloye, to tell Nigerians where he derived the authority to award the contract to Sunrise in 2003.
“When I was president, no minister had the power to approve more than N25 million without express presidential consent. It was impossible for Agunloye to commit my government to a $6 billion project without my permission and I did not give him any permission,” Obasanjo said.
“If a commission of inquiry is set up today to investigate the matter, I am ready to testify. I do not even need to testify because all the records are there. I never approved it.
“When he presented his memo to the federal executive council (on May 21, 2003), I was surprised because he had previously discussed it with me and I had told him to jettison the idea, that I had other ideas on how the power sector would be restructured and funded.
“I told him as much at the council meeting and directed him to step down the memo. I find it surprising that Agunloye is now claiming he acted on behalf of Nigeria. If I knew he issued such a letter to Sunrise, I would have sacked him as minister during my second term. He would not have spent a day longer in office.”
BUHARI: I REFUSED TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT
Buhari, on his part, denied authorising the settlement agreement of 2020.
“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,” he wrote to Fagbemi.
“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.”
With TheCable report
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