Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power and Steel, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of intentionally spreading falsehoods to deflect attention from his own record on the Mambilla power project.
Agunloye’s comments come amidst his ongoing legal battle over a multi-billion-dollar fraud case tied to the Mambilla Hydroelectric plant.
Agunloye, currently the National Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), is facing seven charges filed by the Nigerian government related to the controversial project.
The case, brought before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, alleges that Agunloye was involved in a $6 billion fraud during his tenure as Minister of Power and Steel from 2002 to 2003 under the Obasanjo administration.
In a statement released on Friday, Agunloye claimed that the former president was deliberately distorting facts to obscure his own involvement in the Mambilla project.
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He argued that Obasanjo’s public statements and actions were designed to deflect blame and protect his own legacy concerning the power project.
Agunloye also expressed frustration over what he perceived as efforts to use him as a scapegoat to perpetuate the narrative of widespread corruption, particularly in relation to the project’s arbitration process.
He suggested that the dispute was rooted in personal conflicts between Obasanjo and key figures such as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Leno Adesanya, the owner of Sunrise Power Company, who he claimed were part of the broader issue.
Furthermore, Agunloye accused Obasanjo of feigning ignorance regarding the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract during his presidency, only to later misrepresent the facts in both public statements and legal proceedings.
Agunloye’s accusations add another layer to the ongoing saga of the Mambilla project, which has been marred by years of delays and controversy.
