In relation to the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings Sunrise Power brought against Nigeria for a purported breach of contract by the federal government, former president Olusegun Obasanjo will appear before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, today. Obasanjo and former President Muhammadu Buhari were in Paris on Monday due to the lawsuit, according to a report by Daily Trust.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Leno Adesanya, Sunrise Power’s chairman and CEO, gave testimony before the ICC on Tuesday regarding the $2.3 billion arbitration case his business brought against Nigeria. AD SPONSOR In an interview with TheCable in 2023, Obasanjo asked Olu Agunloye, his former minister of power, how he obtained the authority to give Sunrise the contract in 2003.
“No minister may authorize more than N25 million during my presidency without the express approval of the president. Agunloye couldn’t have committed my administration to a $6 billion project without my consent, and I didn’t grant him any. “I am prepared to testify if a commission of inquiry is established today to look into the matter. All the records are there, so I don’t even have to testify. It was never approved by me.
I was taken aback when he presented his letter to the Federal Executive Council on May 21, 2003, as I had previously discussed it with him and encouraged him to drop the proposal because I had other ideas about how to support and reform the electricity sector.
At the council meeting, I informed him of this and gave him instructions to resign the memo. The fact that Agunloye is now asserting that he acted on behalf of Nigeria surprises me. I would have fired him as minister during my second term if I had known he had written Sunrise such a letter. The former president stated that he would not have remained in office for a single more day.
In response to Obasanjo’s assertions, Agunloye had stated that the build, operate, and transfer (BOT) arrangement did not require the government to make any payments to Sunrise. According to him, the plan was still in place for the newly established business, whose declared assets at the time were valued at less than $2,000, to provide all of the funding.
A 2003 agreement to build the 3,050 megawatt plant in Mambilla, Taraba State, on a “build, operate, and transfer” basis valued at $6 billion was the reason Sunrise began the arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC, Paris, on October 10, 2017, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract.” In 2017, former Housing, Works, and Power Minister Babatunde Fashola referred to Sunrise Power as a middleman.
The Chinese company Sinohydro Corporation Limited, which is currently managing the project, is the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor that the Buhari administration is directly contracting, the minister had stated. Following a number of discussions, Sale Mamman, a former minister of power, purportedly stated in 2020 that the parties had negotiated a $200 million out-of-court settlement.
Sunrise later launched a $400 million compensation claim against the government at the ICC for violating the new accord, which changed the course of the legal struggle. The company claimed that the amount was intended to be an out-of-court settlement, which the government allegedly did not honor because it had committed to paying within 14 days of the agreement being signed by Sale Mamman on behalf of the government, Leno Adesanya, the Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, and former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami.
Then, on May 11, Femi Falana, the company’s attorney, filed a complaint at the International Court of Arbitration, requesting $400 million in total claims, including fines. In its claim form, Sunrise stated that the money was to be paid “within 14 days” of the terms of the agreement being executed on January 21, 2020, and that there would be a 10% penalty for any breach in the settlement conditions.
The business had also stated that it was reinstated as the local partner for the ongoing $5.8 billion Mambilla power project, as per the agreement made. A follow-up revealed that the local partner requirement had been eliminated and the accord had been amended. Citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian economy, the federal government subsequently asked for a review of the negotiation.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
