Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has opened up on why he decided to testifying at the Mambilla Power Project arbitration holding in France.
Recall that we had reported that Obasanjo testified in the ongoing arbitration on Wednesday.
Before that, ex-President Muhammadu Buhari had equally testified.
Giving reasons for testifying, he said:
“I volunteered myself to testify in this case. Nobody sent me to do so. President Tinubu did not ask me to do so as speculated. I didn’t speak to anybody on my intention to testify.
“I decided to testify because of the statement made on the matter by Olu Agunloye. I considered his claims atrocious and thought it necessary to set the records straight.”
Sunrise Power, which claimed to have been awarded a $6 billion contract to build, operate and transfer the power plant by the Obasanjo administration in May 2003, is in arbitration with Nigeria at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
The company has alleged a breach of contract by the Nigerian Government and is seeking monetary compensation of $2.3 billion to cover what it had spent on financial and legal consultants.
Mr Agunloye was the minister of power under whom the contract was awarded. Earlier, Mr Obasanjo had blamed the former minister for mismanaging the project between 1999 and 2003.