The International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Tribunal in Paris, France, has ruled in favor of the Federal Government of Nigeria, dismissing the $2.35 billion award claim filed by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited over the Mambilla Hydropower Project.
The ruling eliminates a massive contingent financial liability on the country’s balance sheet and clears long-standing legal bottlenecks surrounding the delayed 3,050MW power facility in Taraba State.
Nigeria defeated the multi-billion-dollar suit by proving that the underlying 2003 Build-Operate-Transfer contract awarded to Sunrise Power was rooted in public corruption, official fraud, and gross procedural illegality.
The transaction fell under intense scrutiny when former President Olusegun Obasanjo disclosed that his administration had explicitly directed the Federal Executive Council to step down the memorandum and place the project under competitive bidding. Despite those express instructions, former Minister of Power and Steel Olu Agunloye unilaterally issued a contract commitment letter to Sunrise Power within 24 hours without presidential consent, cabinet authorization, or budgetary allocations.
Subsequent anti-graft investigations conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission uncovered illicit financial transactions linking the former minister directly to associates of Sunrise Power.
Bank records introduced during court proceedings detailed trace payments sent to Agunloye’s personal accounts by representatives of Sunrise Power Chairman Leno Adesanya, alongside further offshore wire transfers tied to secret foreign entities.
These revelations led to criminal prosecutions against key public officials for official corruption and forgery in Nigerian courts, providing the legal foundation for Nigeria’s international defense team to void the contract under international public policy.
