Tunde Bakare
The Fifth Prosecution Witness, PW5, in the trial of the former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 clarified what transpired over the certification of the extract of the minutes of Federal Executive Council meeting of May 21, 2026, before Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court, Apo, Abuja, following the formal request from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the certified extracts of the minutes of the meeting.
The former minister is facing prosecution on an amended seven-count charge bordering on official corruption and fraudulent award of Mambilla Power Project contract to the tune of $6billion (Six Billion United States Dollars) to Sunrise Power Transmission Company Limited.
The witness, Iliya John Iyakwari, an assistant director of Legal in the Federal Ministry of Justice, now serving in the Federal Ministry of Power as an assistant legal adviser since August 2014, while being cross-examined by defence counsel, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, stated that the request of the certified extract copy of the FEC meeting of May 21, 2003 was received from the EFCC in July 2023 and that the reason it was certified in 2024 was that, upon the receipt of the request letter from the User Department, the Legal Department did a forwarding memo to the EFCC, dated July 27, 2023 and that the copy that was first sent to the EFCC were not certified, forcing the Commission to return it.
“It was after it was received by EFCC in July 2023, that they realized that the extract was not certified. So, in January 2024, a staff of the EFCC brought back the Exhibit Three K to my legal adviser and the name of the EFCC staff is Babangida.
“He brought it handy and reminded my director that it was not certified. My director now gave me the document to go and certify. That is why my lord will see on the face of the document that the date the document was certified on 26 January 2024 is different from the date it was forwarded. So, it was in the process of certification that I mistakenly stamped the original forwarding letter, dated 27 June 2023. After stamping the document I gave it back to my director who I believed handed it over to Babangida because I left them afterwards” he said.
Defending the position of the witness when he was asked if his early testimony of certification in June 2023 was contradictory, prosecution counsel, Abba Mohammed, SAN, stated that the testimony of the witness was not contradictory, reiterating that the records speak for themselves.
“My lord, I object to this particular question, anchored on Exhibit PW5A which was just tendered in court. What I see in our record and what I believe is reflected in the records of the court is that in his explanation, he summarized that all these activities were done in June 2023, he never said the certification was done in 2023. This objection is founded on Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is superior to the Evidence Act. We will rely on the record of the court particularly in line 16,” he said.
The witness was also asked if the document Babangida tendered in court during his testimony was another extract of the FEC meeting different from the one he certified.
The prosecution counsel again objected, stating that the witness, following courts’ procedure was out of the court and hearing when Babangida testified, adding that the witness cannot be cross-examined on a document not tendered through him, citing the case of Buhari vs INEC & Others 2008.
Justice Onwuegbuzie adjourned the matter till June 18, July 2, 2026 for continuation of trial.