The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained a former Minister of State for Power, Olu Agunloye, a source revealed on Tuesday.
The former minister is being held in the commission’s offices in Abuja, according to the source, who did not specify when he will be charged or released on bond.
According to the source, an inquiry into the former minister’s role in the failing Mambilla Power Project, which has cost Nigeria millions of Naira without yielding any results, is still underway.
The confirmation of Agunloye’s imprisonment came just days after the anti-graft bureau declared him wanted.
“He has been with the EFCC since December 13th. But it was not made public,” he said.
Agulonye was declared wanted by the EFCC in connection with a $6 billion power plan involving the Mambilla hydropower project.
Agunloye, a minister in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration from 1999 to 2003, has been implicated in the Mambilla power project issue, particularly by Obasanjo, who accused him of unlawfully awarding the programme with consent from the Federal Executive Council.
Agunloye, on the other hand, has denied any impropriety in the project, claiming that Obasanjo was simply misrepresenting facts against him.
cc: Vanguard Ng
