Former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, has questioned the legal authority of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to prosecute him over his alleged unlawful acts in the $6 billion Mambilla Hydroelectric Power project.
Agunloye, in a notice of preliminary objection filed before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo, wants an order prohibiting the EFCC from prosecuting or further prosecuting the seven-count charge on which he was arraigned on January 10.
In the objection he filed through his lawyer, Adeola Adedipe (SAN), the ex-minister noted that the offences alleged in the charge related to his activities as a public officer, during which he was said to have awarded the contract without budgetary provision, approval, and cash backing.
Agunloye also observed that another offence alleged in the charge bordered on his purported disobedience of the directives of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and forgery of a letter dated May 22, 2003
He contends that the EFCC lacks both investigative and prosecutorial powers concerning the offences alleged in the charge under sections 6, 7 and 46 of the EFCC Act, 2004.
Agunloye added: “These allegations do not constitute financial crimes, which can be lawfully investigated and prosecuted by the EFCC, pursuant to its powers under Sections 6, 7, and 46 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act and in consonance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Nwobike v. Federal Republic of Nigeria (2022) 6 NWLR (Pt. 1826) 293.”
“Not having the mandatory or statutory powers to investigate the allegations against the defendant ab initio, the purported investigation of the defendant and current prosecution of the charge by the EFCC is ultra vires its powers and thereby a nullity.
“This is a threshold issue, in which the court must first satisfy itself that there is requisite statutory powers for the EFCC to prosecute the charge and competent jurisdiction in the court to entertain same.”
Agunloye also filed a separate application, seeking an order of the court to restrain the EFCC from inviting, intimidating or harassing his sureties.
He equally wants an order to vary the conditions attached to the bail granted him on January 11 one of which requires that his sureties provide evidence of their ownership of a property worth N300 million.
Agunloye, in the application, claimed that the EFCC has “repeatedly harassed, threatened, and invited his sureties for investigation,” an action he said was “actuated by bad faith for the sureties to withdraw their suretyship and thereby create an uneven playing field in the prosecution of the case.”
At the resumed hearing in the case on Monday, Adedipe informed the court about the fresh applications filed by his client.
The trial judge, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, however, noted that they were not ripe for hearing.
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Justice Onwuegbuzie then adjourned till February 26 for the hearing of the applications
In the charge, the EFCC alleged that Agunloye, who served as a minister between 1999 and 2003, under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, illegally awarded a contract for the construction of a 3,960 MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate, and Transfer Basis.
The EFCC claimed that the award of the contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited was done without any budgetary provision, approval, or cash backing.
It equally alleged that Agunloye corruptly received kickback to the tune of N3.6 million from the company to which he awarded the contract, allegations the ex-minister denied by pleading not guilty when he was arraigned on January 10.
