A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Apo, yesterday, ordered the remand of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in Kuje Correctional Service.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Agunloye over allegations of fraud in the Mambilla Power Project. Agunloye was brought before the court, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read against him.
Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie ordered that the minister be remanded in Kuje correctional facility pending when bail would be granted. The defendant, who had also served as a Minister of State for Defence, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court directed that he should remain in custody, pending the determination of his bail application. Recall that the EFCC declared Agulonye wanted in connection with a $6 billion power scheme involving the Mambilla hydropower project.
Agunloye, who was a minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government between 1999 and 2003, has been mentioned in the controversy about the Mambilla Power Project, especially by Obasanjo, who accused him of illegally awarding the scheme without approval by the Federal Executive Council.
But Agunloye has denied any wrongdoing in the project and said that information was merely distorted against him.
