Former Nigerian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari have put up a brilliant defence for Nigeria before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France, in an alleged breach of contract case against the federal government concerning the Mambilla Power Project.
A firm, Sunrise Power, had instituted a $2.3 billion arbitration case against the federal government, claiming that the country had defaulted in its contractual obligations to the company.
But Sunrise Power’s defence and efforts to secure an award against Nigeria in the arbitration proceedings at the ICC may have suffered a setback during the ongoing hearings in Paris as its witnesses failed to appear to testify.
According to sources, Obasanjo and Buhari, known for speaking “forthrightly” and “‘unequivocally”, exhibited these qualities in Paris to the delight of the international team of lawyers representing Nigeria as the two past presidents did exceptionally well.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that although it is up to the chairman and other members of the tribunal to decide who is right or wrong, Nigeria had a very good outing based on certain facts that have emerged from Paris.
Obasanjo testified on Wednesday, followed by Buhari on Thursday. The panel’s sessions began on Saturday, January 18, but hearings from factual witnesses were held from Monday, January 20, to Thursday, January 23. Although the sittings will continue into next week, only expert opinions will be heard moving forward.
The sources also said it was a great showing overall, consolidated by the equally outstanding testimonies of former ministers Engr Sulaiman Adamu, who was the Minister of Water Resources, and Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Minister of Power during Buhari’s administration.
The sources said expert witnesses were called and the parties involved in the arbitration would submit their written arguments to the tribunal. A date will then be scheduled for the adoption of these submissions. Subsequently, the tribunal will set a date to deliver its decision. Confidentiality rules govern arbitration hearings and are not intended to be reported extensively in the media.
Sunrise, a company promoted by Leno Adesanya, faced a significant setback as its key witnesses failed to appear to adopt their statements, effectively rendering their submissions abandoned and irrelevant.
Olu Agunloye was the Minister of Power controversially awarded the Sunrise contract in 2003 – just a day after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rejected it. He was listed as a witness but did not appear.
Similarly, a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and another witness listed by Sunrise, Michael Aondoakaa, was said to have briefly appeared in Paris but returned to Nigeria without testifying.
A third key witness, a Senegalese also failed to appear.
Also, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General under Buhari, Abubakar Malami, on whose testimony Sunrise was hoping on, was not fielded as a witness, but ended up lining behind his former boss (Buhari).
LEADERSHIP Weekend made efforts to reach Sunrise Power last night by sending messages to the firm’s email addresses but could not get any response as of the time of filing this report.
The power firm initiated the arbitration proceedings on October 10, 2017, seeking $2.354 billion in damages for what it described as a breach of contract.
The company claims the federal government violated a 2003 agreement for the Mambilla Project, designed initially as a “build, operate, and transfer” scheme.
In 2017, then-minister of Power, Works, and Housing Babatunde Fashola described Sunrise Power as a “middleman,” stating that the Buhari administration had engaged Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese firm, as the project’s Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor.
However, while an out-of-court settlement of $200 million was reportedly agreed upon in 2020, Sunrise Power filed a new claim for $400 million at the ICC, alleging the government had defaulted on the settlement terms. The company also sought reinstatement as the local partner for the revised $5.8 billion Mambilla Project, a condition, it claimed, was removed in subsequent negotiations.
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