“Agunloye Accuses Obasanjo of Distorting Mambilla Power Project Truth”
Olu Agunloye, a former Minister of Power and Steel, has leveled serious accusations against former President Olusegun Obasanjo, claiming that Obasanjo is deliberately spreading falsehoods about the Mambilla power project to deflect from his own role in the matter.
Agunloye, who is currently facing a seven-count charge by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) over alleged fraud tied to the Mambilla Hydroelectric plant contract, recently sought the intervention of Justice Minister Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and other influential figures to address the matter. He has been accused of involvement in a six-billion-dollar fraud related to the project.
Serving as the Minister of Power and Steel under Obasanjo between 2002 and 2003, Agunloye is now a National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he expressed his frustration with the ongoing situation and argued that Obasanjo was distorting facts to hide his own missteps regarding the project.
“The government is using me as a scapegoat to falsely portray systemic corruption and distract from the real issues,” Agunloye stated. He suggested that the tensions surrounding the Mambilla project are rooted in personal conflicts, specifically between President Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and Leno Adesanya, the owner of Sunrise Power Company.
Agunloye further criticized Obasanjo for feigning ignorance of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract during his presidency and for later misrepresenting the facts in public and judicial settings.
“The arbitration in France emerged from actions taken by successive Nigerian administrations, especially under President Buhari. In 2017, Minister Babatunde Fashola bypassed a critical agreement signed in 2012 under President Goodluck Jonathan and awarded the Mambilla contract to another company,” Agunloye pointed out.
He added that despite advice from the Chinese government to resolve the dispute diplomatically, the Nigerian government failed to honor two separate settlement agreements, leading to the return of the case to arbitration.
Agunloye concluded by accusing the government of spreading misinformation and using him as a pawn to divert attention away from the actions of its own officials and previous Nigerian leaders involved with the project over the years.
