$6bn Mambilla power contract deal: Sunrise CEO testifies in Paris court today

The Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya, will today testify before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings his company filed against Nigeria over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government. Yesterday, Daily Trust reported that former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari would […]

The Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya, will today testify before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings his company filed against Nigeria over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government.

Yesterday, Daily Trust reported that former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari would also testify before the ICC.

Sunrise, on October 10, 2017, started the arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC, Paris, seeking a $2.354 billion award for “breach of contract” in relation to a 2003 agreement to construct the 3,050 megawatt plant in Mambilla, Taraba State, on a “build, operate and transfer” basis valued at $6 billion.

A former Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, in 2017, had described Sunrise Power as a middleman.

The minister had said the Buhari administration was directly contracting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese firm, currently handling the project.

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After several negotiations, a former Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, had, in 2020, reportedly said the parties had reached an out-of-court settlement of $200 million.

The court battle took a new turn when Sunrise later filed a $400 million compensation claim at the ICC against the government for breaching the new agreement.

The company had said the sum was to serve as an out-of-court settlement which the government allegedly failed to honour as it had agreed to pay in 14 days after it was signed by a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Sale Mamman for the government and the Chairman/CEO of Sunrise Power, Leno Adesanya.

The company’s legal representative, Femi Falana, then filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Arbitration on May 11, demanding $400 million as overall claims, including penalties.

According to Sunrise in its claim document, the amount was to be paid “within 14 days” of the execution of the terms of the agreement on January 21, 2020, along with a 10 per cent penalty if there is a default in the settlement terms.

The company had also said it was agreed in the pact signed that it would be restored as the local partner for the current $5.8 billion Mambilla power project.

A follow-up on this showed that the pact was revised and the local partner condition was removed. The federal government later requested a review of the negotiation, citing the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the Nigerian economy.