Court remands ex-minister, Olu Agunloye, in Kuje correctional centre
By Emma Ogbuehi
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, January 10, ordered the remand of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in Kuje Correctional Centre.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Agunloye over allegations of fraud in the Mambilla Power Project.
Agunloye was brought before the Federal High Court in Abuja where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read against him.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Donatus Okorowu, ordered that the minister be remanded in Kuje correctional facility pending when bail would be granted.
After being listed as wanted, Olu Agunloye, former minister of state for power, was confirmed to be in custody by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in December.
He was taken into custody on December 13, 2023.
Early December 2023, EFCC declared Agulonye wanted in connection with a $6 billion purported scam involving the contentious Mambilla hydropower project.
The agency said: “The public is hereby notified that Olu Agunloye, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of corruption and forgery.”
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The agency had asked members of the public to contact it with useful information as to his whereabouts.
The EFCC had in September questioned the former minister over the same issue.
Agunloye was a minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government (1999-2003). He has been at the centre of the controversy about the Mambilla project.
He was accused by Obasanjo of illegally awarding the project’s contract without the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) consent.
However, Agunloye refuted the charges and asserted that the outgoing president was falsifying information.