A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Apo on Thursday granted bail to a former Minister of Power and Steel, Mr Olu Agunloye, who was remanded in prison custody over his alleged complicity in a $6 billion contract fraud.
By Emma Ogbuehi
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Apo on Thursday granted bail to a former Minister of Power and Steel, Mr Olu Agunloye, who was remanded in prison custody over his alleged complicity in a $6 billion contract fraud.
The bail comes on the heels of an intervention by Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, who, on Wednesday raised alarm over the safety of the former Minister on his remand in the Kuje Correctional Centre.
Trial Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie gave bail to Agunloye, who is answering a seven-count charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him, to the tune of N50million with two sureties in the same sum.
According to the court, the sureties must be reputable and people of means that are resident within the FCT.
The court held that the sureties must own landed properties worth N300 million, adding that the Certificate of Occupancy of the said properties must be verifiable.
The judge also ordered that the sureties must submit copies of their identity cards as well as photocopies of their international passports to the court registry.
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Agunloye was further ordered to submit his international passport to the court and ensure his availability at all times for his trial.
The defendant had, through his counsel, Mr Adeola Adedipe, SAN, begged the court to either grant him bail on self-recognisance or on very liberal terms.
While insisting on his innocence, Agunloye stressed that the charge the anti-graft agency slammed against him contained a bailable offence.
He told the court that he would not pose any flight risk, saying he would be available for his trial.
Meanwhile, Justice Onwuegbuzie fixed February 12 to commence a full-blown hearing of the case.
EFCC alleged that Agunloye, who served as a Minister between 1999 and 2003, under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, illegally awarded a contract for the construction of a 3,960 MW Mambilla hydroelectric power station on a build, operate, and transfer basis.
The agency told the court that the contract, which was awarded to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, was done without any budgetary provision, approval, or cash backing.
Agunloye was equally alleged to have corruptly received kickback to the tune of N3.6 million from the company he awarded the contract to. The former minister however pleaded not guilty to the charge when he was docked on Wednesday.
Reacting to Agunloye’s remand, Soyinka, had in a statement made available to TheNiche, warned on the dangers of holding the former minister in prison custody.
The statement read in parts; “I wish to alert the nation, and the government that there exists a justifiable, high-level concern for his safety. His predecessor in office, the late Chief Bola Ige, was murdered in his bedroom by professional assassin even while his police protection detail took time off, all at the same time, to a nearby eatery. Till today, those mystery killers have yet to be identified, arrested, and tried.
“I have made it clear, even as recently as a few weeks ago, that Bola Ige’s murder was not unconnected with the Mambilla scam. Olu Agunloye worked closely with me, both within and outside routine police motions, to unmask Ige’s killers. It would therefore amount to unpardonable complacency to propose that there are no forces sufficiently desperate to accord him the same fate as Bola Ige. That goal is made easier by the abrupt decision to remand him in prison.
“I have called for an independent, non-partisan commission to probe at length and in-depth, in public sittings, this scandal of expanding dimensions that has crippled the energy needs of a nation of two hundred million citizens over the past two decades. The latest development is sinister and alarming.”
Soyinka concluded, “Let it be understood that if anything happens to this pivotal witness while in custody, the inference will be heard loud, clear, and unambiguous.”