Ruling on Agunloye’s application postponed to May 15 by Court

Reported by Deborah Musa

On Monday, a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo decided to adjourn the ruling till May 15 regarding the preliminary objection raised by former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr. Olu Agunloye.

Agunloye is facing a seven-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, including forgery, disobedience of presidential order, and corruption.

The accused pleaded not guilty to these charges.

Adeola Adedipe (SAN), Agunloye’s counsel, argued in court that the EFCC did not have the authority to prosecute his client, as per the constitutional provision since the Attorney General of the Federation did not grant the EFCC the necessary fiat to proceed with the case.

He pointed out that the AGF in office during the filing of the charges was not the one who ratified it, thus questioning the legality of the proceedings.

Adedipe cited various legal frameworks to support his stance that the EFCC lacked the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute Agunloye for the alleged crimes related to the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station project.

He contended that the charges against Agunloye were not financial crimes and fell outside the scope of EFCC’s mandate based on legal precedents.

In response, the prosecuting counsel, Abba Mohammed, cited previous court cases to support the EFCC’s authority to prosecute offenders under certain circumstances.

The prosecution also raised concerns about suspicious payments to Agunloye’s accounts from a company named Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

After hearing arguments from both parties, Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie, the trial judge, decided to postpone the ruling on the preliminary objection to May 15.

Agunloye is accused of awarding a contract for the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station without proper approval and budgetary provisions back in 2003.