“I Have No Knowledge Of How May 21 FEC Minutes Were Adopted” — Imoke Tells Court In Agunloye’s Mambilla Trial

Former Minister of Power Olu Agunloye’s defence team on Monday questioned former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke before the FCT High Court in Abuja over the circumstances surrounding the award of the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Power project in 2003.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is prosecuting Agunloye on various corruption charges, including allegedly awarding the contract without the approval of the Federal Executive Council and in violation of a presidential directive.

Agunloye’s defence team, however, sought to challenge the alleged violations through Imoke’s testimony. Imoke succeeded Agunloye as Minister of Power in 2003 during the administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Imoke, the sixth prosecution witness, had testified on October 19 that the FEC never approved the contract, which preceded his appointment as minister.

The former governor said he learnt of the FEC’s refusal to approve the contract from the minutes of the council’s May 21, 2003 meeting, where the matter was deliberated.

During cross-examination on Monday, defence counsel Adeola Adedipe, SAN, sought to raise doubts over whether the minutes of the May 21, 2003 meeting were ever formally adopted by the council.

Adedipe noted that the May 21, 2003 FEC meeting was the last held during Obasanjo’s first term before the cabinet was dissolved.

Under cross-examination, Imoke confirmed that the meeting was the last held by the council during that tenure.

Explaining the procedure of FEC meetings, Imoke said decisions of the council were extracted from the minutes, which “are read and considered page by page” at the following FEC meeting.

When asked how the May 21, 2003 minutes were adopted, Imoke replied that “the extracts were circulated after the council was dissolved.”

He said he was not privy to the adoption of the minutes because he was not a minister or member of the council in May 2003. He was appointed minister later that year.

“I wasn’t a member of the Council. I did not become minister until August 2003. I don’t want to make any assumptions on something I have no knowledge of.

“I don’t have knowledge of the adoption. I can’t recall. This happened in 2003,” Imoke said.

Agunloye is facing seven charges, including disobedience to a presidential directive, conspiracy, forgery and receiving gratification.

The charges arose from his role in the award of the controversial $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power contract in May 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

The project was proposed as a 3,960-megawatt hydroelectric facility in Taraba State but was never completed.

The prosecution alleged that Agunloye disobeyed a presidential directive issued during a FEC meeting by signing a letter to SPTCL purporting to convey “the approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for the construction of the 3,960 megawatts Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.”

The EFCC also accused Agunloye of conspiring with Leno Adesanya, the major promoter of SPTCL, whom the agency said was at large, to falsify a document titled “Construction of 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis” in 2003.

Other allegations include receiving gratification of over N5 million from SPTCL and Adesanya.

Agunloye has denied all seven charges.

The defence could not conclude Imoke’s cross-examination on Monday.

Following Imoke’s testimony that he had no knowledge of the adoption of the May 21, 2003 FEC minutes, Adedipe requested that other documents previously admitted as exhibits be handed to the witness to determine whether there was any evidence that the subsequent council adopted the minutes.

“It will take me some time to go through all of these documents,” Imoke said after receiving them.

At the request of prosecution counsel Abba Mohammed, trial judge Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie adjourned the case until November 11 for continuation of cross-examination.

The May 21, 2003 FEC minutes have been a subject of contention in previous proceedings.

In November 2025, the third prosecution witness, Umar Babangida, an EFCC investigator, told the court that the contract award letter dated May 22, 2003, allegedly issued by Agunloye, was forged.

Babangida testified that EFCC investigations found no record showing that FEC approved the contract and maintained that the award did not follow due process.

He also told the court that investigators obtained records showing that 40 ministers attended the May 21, 2003 FEC meeting and that no approval was granted for the contract at the meeting.

Under cross-examination in March, however, the witness acknowledged that Agunloye reduced the Federal Government’s equity participation in the project from an initial proposed 25 per cent to not more than 10 per cent, a difference he agreed amounted to $900 million, although he maintained that the reduction was made without presidential approval.

The witness also confirmed the EFCC’s allegation that Agunloye received N5.2 million in 2019 from Adesanya through an intermediary, an allegation the former minister has disputed, maintaining that the money was connected to a medical emergency.

The fourth prosecution witness, Ugochukwu Okoli, testified in April that the copy of the minutes tendered in the case originated from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Okoli said he handled a request from the EFCC for certified extracts of the FEC minutes while serving on posting from the Federal Ministry of Justice to the SGF’s office as an Assistant Legal Adviser.

He told the court that in September 2022, the SGF’s office received a letter from the EFCC requesting an extract of the minutes of the May 21, 2003 FEC meeting concerning a memo presented by the then Minister of Power on the proposed 3,960-megawatt Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.

The Mambilla project, first awarded in 2003 to SPTCL by the Obasanjo administration, became the subject of a prolonged legal dispute.

An arbitration tribunal in Paris recently resolved the dispute in favour of Nigeria and against SPTCL, which had accused the Federal Government of breach of contract.

Obasanjo had in 2023 accused Agunloye of awarding the contract without approval.

The former minister denied the claim, alleging that he was being used as a scapegoat over the government’s handling of the project.

The project was designed to generate 3,960 megawatts of electricity on a build, operate and transfer basis.

Post Title: “I Have No Knowledge Of How May 21 FEC Minutes Were Adopted” — Imoke Tells Court In Agunloye’s Mambilla Trial By Papers Nigeria.