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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, remanded a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in Kuje Correctional Center.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Agunloye over alleged fraud in the Mambilla Power project.
Agunloye was arraigned before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read against him.
The judge, however, ordered that the embattled former minister be remanded in Kuje custodial center pending the hearing of his bail application.
EFCC is investigating Agunloye over the $6 billion Mambilla hydropower contract.
The anti-graft agency had declared Agunloye wanted on December 13 over alleged corrupt practices in the contract.
Agunloye later turned himself in few days after he was declared wanted.
In September, EFCC traced some suspicious payments made by Sunrise Power and Transmission Ltd to Agunloye’s bank accounts.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo also challenged Agunloye to tell Nigerians where he derived the authority to award a $6 billion contract to Sunrise for the Mambilla hydropower project in 2003.
In his response, Agunloye said the government was not obliged to pay a kobo to Sunrise under the build, operate, and transfer (BOT) agreement as it was to be fully funded by the newly registered company, whose declared assets were worth less than $2,000 at the time.