Obasanjo testified during the ongoing arbitration on Wednesday, following testimonies from former President Muhammadu Buhari.
In an interview with Premium Times in Paris, Obasanjo stated, “I volunteered to testify in this case. Nobody sent me to do so. President Tinubu did not ask me to testify, as has been speculated. I did not discuss my intention to testify with anyone.”
He explained that he chose to speak out due to Agunloye’s statements regarding the matter, which he described as atrocious, and he believed it was necessary to clarify the facts.
Sunrise Power, which claims to have been awarded a $6 billion contract to build, operate, and transfer the power plant by the Obasanjo administration in May 2003, is currently in arbitration with Nigeria at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
The company alleges a breach of contract by the Nigerian government and seeks $2.3 billion in monetary compensation for expenses incurred for financial and legal consulting services.
Agunloye served as minister of power during the contract award.
Earlier, Obasanjo had accused Agunloye of mismanaging the project from 1999 to 2003.
In response to these allegations in 2023, Agunloye described them as “baseless, false, and malicious.”
He claimed that the investment required by Sunrise Power to complete the project was valued at a maximum of $6 billion by four former ministers of power and Obasanjo himself before his tenure as minister.
The Nigerian government has also claimed that fraud was involved in the contract award process, indicating that certain public officials may have been corrupt.
