Buhari set to testify in Mambilla arbitration as Aondoaaka ‘withdraws’ support for Sunrise
Former President Muhammadu Buhari will take the stand on Monday in the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings filed against Nigeria by Sunrise Power at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government.
Social media posts — since denied by the Nigerian presidency — had claimed Buhari already testified on the disputed Mambilla hydropower project, but TheCable can report that arbitration hearings will only commence on Monday.
President Olusegun Obasanjo is also in France to give his testimony.
Meanwhile, Michael Aondoaaka, the former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) who had earlier filed a witness statement in support of Sunrise, has suddenly left Paris reportedly claiming that he was summoned back to Nigeria by President Bola Tinubu.
TheCable understands that this may be part of the overall strategy of the Sunrise team to allege witness intimidation by the Nigerian government and secure the sympathy of the tribunal members.
A presidency official told TheCable on Sunday that Aondoakaa was not summoned by Tinubu.
A social media post had previously alleged that Tinubu forced Buhari to testify — another tactic believed to be aimed at strengthening a witness intimidation argument at the tribunal.
However, Buhari previously wrote to Lateef Fagbemi, the AGF, in January 2024 denying granting Abubakar Malami, the former AGF, the authority to enter into a $200 million settlement agreement with Sunrise.
In yet another development, an article written by one “Dr. Anthony Ibrahim” who claimed to belong to “Truth and Justice Group, Camberwell Green, London, UK”, had leaked extensive details of the tribunal filings which are normally kept confidential per arbitration rules.
The article, which created the impression that Nigeria was going to lose the case, was widely circulated on social media.
An extensive Google search by TheCable, however, did not provide any internet footprint of “Dr. Anthony Ibrahim” as a commentator or “Truth and Justice Group, Camberwell Green, London, UK”, leading to suspicion that it might have been ghost-written as part of a propaganda campaign by an interested party.
Olu Agunloye, minister of power in 2003, is currently on criminal trial in Nigeria
THE MAMBILLA SAGA
Sunrise had, on October 10, 2017, started arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, France, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract” in relation to a 2003 agreement to construct the 3,050MW plant in Mambilla, Taraba state, on a “build, operate and transfer” basis valued at $6 billion.
In the second arbitration, the company is asking for a $400 million settlement being the terms of the Nigerian government failing to honour the settlement agreement both parties entered into in 2020 to end the arbitration.
In an interview with TheCable in 2023, Obasanjo challenged his former minister of power, Olu Agunloye, to tell Nigerians where he derived the authority to award the contract to Sunrise in 2003.
“When I was president, no minister had the power to approve more than N25 million without express presidential consent. It was impossible for Agunloye to commit my government to a $6 billion project without my permission and I did not give him any permission,” Obasanjo told TheCable.
“If a commission of inquiry is set up today to investigate the matter, I am ready to testify. I do not even need to testify because all the records are there. I never approved it.
“When he presented his memo to the federal executive council (on May 21, 2003), I was surprised because he had previously discussed it with me and I had told him to jettison the idea, that I had other ideas on how the power sector would be restructured and funded.
“I told him as much at the council meeting and directed him to step down the memo. I find it surprising that Agunloye is now claiming he acted on behalf of Nigeria. If I knew he issued such a letter to Sunrise, I would have sacked him as minister during my second term. He would not have spent a day longer in office.”
BUHARI: I REFUSED TO APPROVE SETTLEMENT
Buhari, on his part, denied authorising the settlement agreement of 2020.
“While I understood that my ministers of justice, power and water resources were approached by Sunrise and were engaging with various stakeholders that were involved in the project to resolve the issues blocking the project’s implementation, at no time did I specifically instruct them to enter into and conclude any settlement agreement with Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited,” he wrote to Fagbemi.
“Indeed, when the proposed settlement agreement and addendum were presented to me for my consideration and approval on 20th April 2020, I refused to approve the settlement deal because I was convinced that there was no basis for Sunrise’s claim.
“I hope the above clarifications will assist you in your defence of our country from these ‘invisible contractors who all too often quietly take Nigeria for many millions in out-of-court settlements’, as I stated in my recent statement regarding Nigeria’s victory in the P&ID saga.”
‘I ONLY DEFENDED MYSELF’
When TheCable first reported that Aondoaaka had agreed to testify against Nigeria, he described the report as “fake news”, insisting he only defended himself because of the “unfounded allegations against me in certain paragraphs 165 and 166” of the country’s statement of defence and counterclaim before the tribunal.
However, he was silent on how he got the details of Nigeria’s claims, given that arbitration filings are strictly confidential and are not to be made available to a third party.
Aondoakaa’s witness statement was a direct response to Nigeria’s brief of argument as he quoted extensively from it — a clear indication that he had access to it.
Also, Aondoakaa was silent on who invited him to make a witness statement if he was indeed not a witness for any party in the arbitration and, therefore, had no right of audience.
But TheCable confirmed that Aondoakaa was listed as a witness by Sunrise Power, which is relying on his witness statement in its brief of argument.
If he eventually fails to take the stand to testify, his witness statement will be deemed abandoned — but Sunrise can argue that he was intimidated by the Nigerian president to chicken out.
