A few days after being detained on suspicion of fraud, Dr. Olu Agunloye, a former minister of power and steel, was granted bail by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
This was confirmed by EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale on Wednesday night.
However, when asked about bail conditions, Oyewale refused to disclose them, adding that the agency would bring Agunloye before a court of law for the alleged charge when the anti-corruption agency was ready.
“Agunloye has been released. We would bring him back (to charge) whenever we feel it is right and the public will be notified,” Oyewale told newsmen.
On December 13, 2023, Agunloye was declared wanted by the anti-graft agency over alleged corruption.
The commission which posted the wanted declaration on its official Facebook page urged Nigerians who knew the whereabouts of Agunloye to report to the nearest police station or inform the EFCC.
Tagged: “Olu Agunloye Is Wanted By The EFCC,” the EFCC wrote: “Dr. U Agunloye is wanted by the EFCC. You know his whereabouts? Please don’t hesitate to inform the EFCC or the nearest Police Station.”
“The public is hereby notified that Olu Agunloye, whose photograph appears above is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of Corruption and Forgery.”
It was learnt that the anti-graft agency had invited Agunloye for questioning over his role in the $6 billion Mambila hydropower contract.
On Monday, Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, criticised the EFCC over the “unjust detention” of Agunloye, noting that it was in total contempt of sense and justice.
Soyinka in a release on Monday said that the arrest of Agunloye over the Mambilla Power Project by the anti-graft commission was questionable, adding that it was not the first time he would have to scold the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC.
The elder statesman hence asked the EFCC to release all its prisoners or, in the alternative, equally arrest and detain all those involved in “this mammoth scam” of the Mambilla power project.
Soyinka wrote, “The immediate provocation for these reflections is ongoing predicament of a former Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agunloye, currently detained by the EFCC, in total contempt of sense and justice, or indeed, basic humane considerations.
“We shall not go into the merit or demerits of the charges raised against him over a 16-year-old project that bears the name Manbilla – that is the business of the law courts. Our concern at this moment is however only partially on the basis of individual Fundamental Human Rights.
“Most fortuitously, the detention of any former public servant under circumstances such as Agunloye also provoke the question: how is public interest – such as the pursuit of justice – served by such arbitrary exercise of power?
“Before the now familiar carping, let me state that this is not the first time I have personally intervened in the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC. All the way back to its inception, and public enthusiasm over its mission, I have had cause to use every means to promote and facilitate the success of that mission, while at the same time insisting on the organization’s operation under the law and citizen entitlement.”
