It has been confirmed that the duo of ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari were hurled to Paris, France alongside former Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to testify in the arbitration case involving the $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.

Nigeria is accused of breaching the terms of the power project contract awarded to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited by former President Obasanjo in 2003 to construct a 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

Already, President Bola Tinubu declared on Saturday that he has no intention of involving any Nigerian, pointing out that those defending Nigeria in the said case are doing so based on conviction and patriotism.

Buhari had accused the Minister of Power and Steel under the Obasanjo’s administration, Dr Olu Agunloye, of fraudulently awarding the contract for the project without the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Agunloye however rejected the former president’s accounts on the project, alleging that the Nigerian government was using him as a scapegoat to escape sanction for abandoning contractual agreements on the project.

Agunloye insisted that the contract for the project was duly awarded in 2003 by the Obasanjo’s administration on a Build, Operate, and Transfer basis. Agunloye is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC on seven counts of charges bordering on official corruption and fraudulent award of the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract.

But Buhari’s administration was said to have communicated the decision to cancel the agreement to the promoter of Sunrise Power, Mr. Leno Adesanya, and Mambilla Power in April 2020.,

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had also sought to arrest Adesanya and charge him with bribery and economic sabotage but he denied the allegations and proceeded to arbitration.

Adesanya also defended himself against EFCC’s decision to declare him wanted after Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited was accused of offering bribes to Agunloye to win the contract., The Federal High Court in Abuja presided over Justice Inyang Ekwo had stopped the EFCC from prosecuting Adesanya.

It would be recalled that Justice Ekwo issued an order of mandatory injunction compelling the EFCC to remove Adesanya’s name and photograph from its wanted list, but an Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had stayed the execution of the judgment.