The promoter of Sunrise Power, the company that got the Mambilla Hydro-Power Project contract, Mr. Leno Adesanya, has written to President Bola Tinubu expressing his willingness to mobilise his Chinese consortium in respect of the project, if all financial commitments are signed by the president.
He lamented that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is attempting to criminalise a perfectly legal transaction.
“It must be emphasised that using state law enforcement institutions in this manner will affect businesses and the economy adversely, and frighten investors and innocent individuals.”
“When Sunrise, or any other contractor, refuses to pay bribes, Nigeria cannot disown the constitutional powers and integrity of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) by shamelessly saying that “Mr. President did not approve.
“This cynical and uneducated defence is detrimental to good governance; and, in effect, will require that the FG (Ministers) attaches written Presidential approvals to all contracts and/or agreements,” he said.
Adesanya explained that in 2000, he resolved to diversify the business activities of his flagship company, LENOIL, into the power sector with the goal to develop approximately 3960MW of hydroelectric power in Mambilla, Taraba State.
“In 2001, we established Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (SPTC) as the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to drive this power project.
“In furtherance thereof, SPTC established working relationships with several Chinese State conglomerates such as North China Power Group (NCPG), China Hydroelectric companies (Sinohydro Corporation of China), and China State Construction (CSCEC)
“Sunrise arranged several meetings for the FG, and these included meetings in Nigeria and China for then President Obasanjo and the then Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, and as a result, two Chinese Presidents visited Nigeria to discuss the Mambilla Project with the FG.
“The construction of the Mambilla project was based strictly on a Build, Operate and Transfer structure (BOT) without any funds from the FG, which meant that SPTC and its Chinese partners would source for the funds,” he explained, adding that no money has ever been paid by the FG to Sunrise and/or Leno Adesanya in respect of the BOT contract till date.
In the letter titled, “The lies of the EFCC over the Mambilla Hydro Electrical Project and the unlawful declaration of Mr. Leno Adesanya as a “wanted person” a responses by Leno Adesanya”, the complainant declared that he is not a criminal or fugitive who is evading trial in Nigeria
“I shall return to Nigeria after the current dispute has been resolved. The unwarranted declaration by EFCC is totally unacceptable because we have not even been personally served with any criminal charge or formerly notified of the pending charge to require my appearance or representation by Counsel.
“Therefore, for the gross illegality of the FG and EFCC, further legal action is being considered by my lawyers to put a stop to this criminalisation of a commercial dispute.
According to him, the criminalisation strategy of the FG using institutions like the EFCC is manifest in its effort in alleging that he facilitated the payments of N3.5 million, N500, 000 and N1.12 million to Dr. Olu Agunloye late in 2019 for his medical treatment in Florida.
He said that such claims are laughable because Agunloye left the government 21 years ago, and ceased to be a public officer since 2003. He recalled that despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s instructions in April 2016 to then Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and the then AGF to respect existing agreements between the FG and Sunrise, and despite numerous legal written advisory memoranda by then AGF to comply with the Presidential directives, Fashola challenged Sunrise to go to court on the October 30, 2017, a dispute that continues in other places and remains unresolved.
He argued that FG not having any defence or justification for the unilateral cancellation and breach of its binding contractual obligations to Sunrise, and the likelihood of being found liable for breach of contract, through its various security agencies has now resorted to criminalise and scandalise the Mambilla Power Project with the sole aim of evading the consequent legal contractual obligations.
His words: “In the absence of any credible defence to Sunrise’s claims, the FG through the EFCC has continued to desperately hunt down potential witnesses and to scandalise the underlying contract.
“In support of this objective, the EFCC has now secretly filed a charge against SPTC (in Charge No: FCT/HC/CR/618/2023 between Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Sunrise) pending in a Court located in the remote village of Jikowyi, on the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory and bounded by Nasarawa State.
“To date, the said charge has not been served on me nor Sunrise. However, to create leverage in the ongoing dispute, the FG acting through the EFCC has now hurriedly declared me as a “wanted person”, without any justification.”
He pledged to meet the EFCC in London or Paris for interviews, adding that he fled Nigeria for security reasons, which was properly communicated to the former AGF, Abubakar Malami on numerous occasions.(Guardian)
