LEADERSHIP
Former Nigerian Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari have put up a brilliant defence for Nigeria before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France, in an alleged breach of contract case against the federal government concerning the Mambilla Power Project.
A firm, Sunrise Power, had instituted a $2.3 billion arbitration case against the federal government, claiming that the country had defaulted in its contractual obligations to the company.
[…] According to sources, Obasanjo and Buhari, known for speaking “forthrightly” and “‘unequivocally”, exhibited these qualities in Paris to the delight of the international team of lawyers representing Nigeria as the two past presidents did exceptionally well.
Obasanjo testified on Wednesday, followed by Buhari on Thursday. The panel’s sessions began on Saturday, January 18, but hearings from factual witnesses were held from Monday, January 20, to Thursday, January 23. Although the sittings will continue into next week, only expert opinions will be heard moving forward.
The sources also said it was a great showing overall, consolidated by the equally outstanding testimonies of former ministers Engr Sulaiman Adamu, who was the Minister of Water Resources, and Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Minister of Power during Buhari’s administration.
The sources said expert witnesses were called and the parties involved in the arbitration would submit their written arguments to the tribunal. A date will then be scheduled for the adoption of these submissions. Subsequently, the tribunal will set a date to deliver its decision. Confidentiality rules govern arbitration hearings and are not intended to be reported extensively in the media.
Sunrise, a company promoted by Leno Adesanya, faced a significant setback as its key witnesses failed to appear to adopt their statements, effectively rendering their submissions abandoned and irrelevant.
Olu Agunloye was the Minister of Power controversially awarded the Sunrise contract in 2003 – just a day after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) rejected it. He was listed as a witness but did not appear.
Similarly, a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and another witness listed by Sunrise, Michael Aondoakaa, was said to have briefly appeared in Paris but returned to Nigeria without testifying.
A third key witness, a Senegalese also failed to appear.
Also, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General under Buhari, Abubakar Malami, on whose testimony Sunrise was hoping on, was not fielded as a witness, but ended up lining behind his former boss (Buhari).
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