Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to remove from its “wanted Persons” list, the promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, Leno Adesanya. The EFCC had declared Adesanya wanted over allegations bordering on the six billion dollars ($6,000,000,000) Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project fraud.
Justice Ekwo also gave an order of mandatory injunction compelling the EFCC to remove Mr Adesanya’s name and photograph from its wanted list.
The order is pending the determination of the contractual dispute between the company and the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel.
The judge equally ordered that the anti-graft agency should remove all other negative contents concerning or pertaining to Mr. Adesanya in connection with any criminal allegation associated with the contract.
He, however, refused to grant a relief seeking compensation in the sum of N1 billion against the defendants.
“On the issue of compensation, I have stated before that this court, at this moment, is concerned with the protection of the sanctity of the arbitral proceeding of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration based on the UN Conventions on international dispute resolutions.
“Nigeria (the 2nd defendant in this case) is not just a signatory but has domesticated by virtue of AMA 2023.
“This judgment is to ensure that parties are compelled to do so. This is the order of this court,” he said
The EFCC had declared Mr. Adesanya wanted for “an alleged case of conspiracy and corrupt offer to public officers” in relation to the Mambilla project.
Justice Ekwo proceeded to issue an order “quashing, setting aside, and prohibiting the publication of the first plaintiff (Adesanya) as a wanted person or threatening to prosecute the plaintiffs by the EFCC over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, pending the determination of the contractual dispute between the second plaintiff and the second and third defendants, which is pending before the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration in Paris, under ICC Case Reference No. 26260/SPN/AB/CPB, where the second and third defendants have joined issues.”
He also issued an order “of mandatory injunction is hereby made directing and compelling the EFCC, whether by itself or through its officers, agents, servants, or any other means, to immediately take down, delete, and remove the name and photograph of the first plaintiff as a ‘wanted person’ from its website and all other social media platforms and notice boards; and to remove all other negative content concerning or relating to the first plaintiff in connection with any criminal allegations.”
Adesanya and his firm had claimed that they were being witch-hunted following the Federal Government’s failure to comply with the contractual agreement relating to the Mambilla project and their institution of an arbitral proceeding against the country.
