The Sixth Prosecution Witness, PW6, Liyel Imoke, on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, reiterated before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Apo, Abuja, that the award of the contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited was invalid.
Agunloye is facing prosecution on an amended seven-count charge bordering on official corruption and the alleged fraudulent award of the $6 billion Mambilla Power Project contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited while he was Minister of Power and Steel between 2002 and 2003.
At Monday’s proceedings, Imoke, while concluding his cross-examination by defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, disclosed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) did not approve the award of the contract to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited, adding that the award was invalid.
When asked whether he participated in any FEC meeting where the conclusions of the May 21, 2003 meeting were adopted, he responded:
“My Lord, as I mentioned at the beginning of today’s proceedings, I was sworn in on July 15, 2003, not August, as earlier mentioned. When I checked my records, I saw that I participated in the FEC meeting of July 2003, where the minutes of the 16th FEC meeting of May 21, 2003, were adopted. The proceedings of the 17th FEC meeting are not part of this exhibit file here,” he said.
Explaining the difference between extracts of a meeting and the full conclusions of the meeting, he said extracts are usually sent to the ministry to which a particular memo relates. However, the full Council conclusions are different from the extracts and are maintained, kept or distributed to offices under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The witness was also shown Exhibits EFCC 3K and EFCC 3D, which were letters from the Ministry of Power forwarding the FEC meeting conclusions and extracts, respectively. He responded that both documents were the same in substance and form.
He was further asked to confirm whether, during his tenure as minister, he had proposed that contracts should be awarded on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis or through outright purchase. He responded that he could not recall.
At the end of the cross-examination, prosecution counsel, Abba Mohammed, SAN, applied for an adjournment to enable him to address new issues that arose during the cross-examination.
Justice Onwuegbuzie adjourned the matter until November 19, 2026, for the re-examination of the witness.
