Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The trial of former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, took a dramatic turn on Wednesday as a prosecution witness told the court that the defendant admitted knowing the owner of the company awarded the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract before his ministerial appointment.
Testifying before a Federal High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja, and presided over by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, the Third Prosecution Witness (PW3), Umar Hussein Babangida, said Agunloye made the disclosure in his extra-judicial statement to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Agunloye is standing trial on an amended seven-count charge bordering on alleged official corruption and fraudulent award of the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Adeola Adedipe, SAN, the witness was asked whether the former minister knew Leno Adesanya, owner of Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited, before becoming Minister of Power.
“Yes my lord, it is contained on the right side of Page 4, line 11 of the statement,” Babangida responded.
Reading from the defendant’s extra-judicial statement dated May 16, 2023, and marked Exhibit 30, the witness quoted Agunloye as saying: “I have known Leno Adesanya or rather I know of him before I became minister. I have never met him before he came to the ministry in 2002 to push for the Mambilla project which started in 2000.”
The prosecution alleges that the contract award process for the Mambilla Power Project was irregular and amounted to official corruption.
When asked whether he personally knew Agunloye outside official duties, the EFCC investigator answered in the negative, stating that his knowledge of the defendant was strictly in the course of his investigative responsibilities.
Justice Onwuegbuzie subsequently adjourned the matter to March 11, 12 and 16, 2026, for continuation of hearing.
The case remains one of Nigeria’s most closely watched power sector corruption trials, given the scale of the Mambilla project and its significance to the country’s electricity generation ambitions.
