… As witness insists FEC minutes genuine
Mkpoikana Udoma
P+ort Harcourt — The trial of former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, over the alleged $6 billion Mambilla Hydropower Project fraud has continued as a prosecution witness told the court that extracts of the 2003 Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting tendered against the defendant were genuine.
Testifying before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja, the third prosecution witness, Umar Hussein Babangida, dismissed claims by the defendant that the documents were altered.
Agunloye is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on an amended seven-count charge bordering on official corruption and alleged fraudulent award of the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited.
Babangida, an investigator with the EFCC, told the court during cross-examination by defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, that the anti-graft agency obtained the FEC meeting extracts directly from both the Federal Ministry of Power and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF.
According to him, both institutions provided identical records of the May 21, 2003 Federal Executive Council meeting, contrary to the defendant’s claim in his extrajudicial statement that the documents had been altered.
“I recalled that the defendant claimed that the extract was altered; that claim is not correct. We compared the response from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and that of the Ministry of Power and discovered that the content of the minutes of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council was the same,” Babangida told the court.
When shown Exhibits EFCC 3D and EFCC 3K, the witness identified EFCC 3D as the response from the OSGF and EFCC 3K as the response from the Federal Ministry of Power.
Reading from page eight of Exhibit EFCC 3K, Babangida said: “I can see the title serial number 14: ‘Construction of 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project on build, operate and transfer basis.’ I can see paragraph one and paragraph two and an inscription ‘Executive Council conclusions’.”
He further noted that the document carried a Certified True Copy stamp of the Federal Ministry of Power, signed by Iliya Iykakhan, an Assistant Director, Legal, and dated January 26, 2024.
During proceedings, defence counsel objected to the witness providing clarifications on the documents, arguing that Babangida was not the maker and therefore could not interpret them.
However, prosecution counsel urged the court to allow the witness explain the documents, arguing that the clarification was necessary for fair hearing.
“My lord, we urge the court to allow the witness explain, relying on the provisions of Section 36 of the Constitution on fair hearing and the Evidence Act which empowers the court to allow witnesses give proper explanations,” the prosecution counsel submitted.
After listening to arguments from both sides, Justice Onwuegbuzie adjourned the matter to March 16, 2026 for ruling on whether the witness could provide clarifications on the documents.
