Mambilla: Malami, Fagbemi give opposing accounts of ICC’s ‘$3.38 billion’ ruling

Former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, and his successor, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, have given opposing accounts of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruling in Paris, which ruled in favour of Nigeria and rejected about $3.38 billion in claims by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd (Sunrise) linked to the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.

Malami, in a statement on Monday, “rejected any suggestion that his official actions at the time were undertaken pursuant to a corrupt agreement or in exchange for personal financial benefit.”

But Fagbemi said on September 21 that the Tribunal found that “Mr. Leno Adesanya, who floated Sunrise, had engaged in a decades-long campaign of bribery and corruption, often involving very large payments to several senior Nigerian government officials connected to the Mambilla Project.”

The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project has been in development for decades and has been the subject of contractual, financial, and legal disputes.

Malami denies allegations of corruption arrangement

Malami, via his aide, Mohammed Bello Doka, maintained that, in respect of the Mambilla project, he inherited a longstanding dispute that had traversed previous administrations, Attorneys-General, ministries, and contractual arrangements.

According to him, on April 20, 2020, the President indicated that the Federal Government did not have US$200 million to pay Sunrise.

That position, according to his aide, was allegedly communicated to Sunrise by Malami on April 22, 2020.

• “When Sunrise asserted that Nigeria was consequently in default and sought to rely upon the enhanced financial consequences of the settlement arrangements, Malami instructed counsel representing the Federal Government to resist Sunrise’s attempt to have the settlement terms adopted or enforced against Nigeria and to preserve the Federal Government’s legal position,” the statement partly reads.

Malami alleges that Sunrise’s attempt to crystallise the asserted US$400 million liability was therefore opposed on behalf of Nigeria.

Fagbemi blames corrupt Nigerian officials

Blaming past government officials, Fagbemi, whose statement was shared with newsmen, alleged that the corrupt scheme, orchestrated by Mr. Adesanya, extended to the Settlement Agreements, with the Tribunal specifically finding that a corrupt deal was reached between Mr. Adesanya and the erstwhile senior Nigerian officials who signed the Settlement Agreement, which formed the basis of the present arbitration against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

• “As further noted by the Tribunal, Mr. Adesanya’s pattern of corrupt dealings extended back to the very origins of the Mambilla dispute, forming what the Tribunal described as an established modus operandi of engaging with influential Nigerian government officials through financial incentives,” he added.

He noted that Sunrise and Mr. Adesanya were ordered to bear the overwhelming majority of the costs — 75% of Nigeria’s legal fees and expenses, plus interest at 10% per annum, compounded annually.

He stated that the Federal Republic of Nigeria will not be a soft target for predatory litigation and arbitration.

Mambilla project dispute dates back decades

In 2003, the then Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, awarded Sunrise Power a build-operate-transfer contract for the development of a 3,050MW Mambilla hydropower plant at an estimated cost of about $6 billion.

• The agreement envisaged Sunrise financing and developing the project and recovering its investment from electricity sales over a long-term period.
• The legality of the award later became a central issue in the dispute.
• Sunrise subsequently commenced arbitration against Nigeria at the ICC on October 10, 2017, seeking about $2.354 billion over an alleged breach of the 2003 agreement.

The EFCC also commenced criminal proceedings against the then Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, bordering on alleged fraud linked to the $6 billion Mambilla project.

In September 2024, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the EFCC to remove Sunrise promoter Leno Adesanya from its wanted list in connection with allegations linked to the Mambilla project.

However, the Court of Appeal later stayed execution of that judgment pending the determination of the Federal Government’s appeal.

Nigeria records another arbitration victory

The Mambilla ruling adds to a series of major legal victories Nigeria has recorded in recent years in disputes involving substantial financial claims.

In February 2026, Nigeria won an arbitration dispute against European Dynamics UK Ltd over a national electronic government procurement project.

The tribunal dismissed all of the company’s claims, which totalled about $6.2 million, according to the Attorney-General’s office.