President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the separate but patriotic efforts of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari in France against a scheme to defraud Nigeria of more than $400m.
Daily Trust reports that Obasanjo and Buhari are in France to testify before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris, France, in connection with the $2.3 billion arbitration proceedings filed against Nigeria by Sunrise Power over an alleged breach of contract by the federal government.
A presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, had Saturday night denied a report that the Presidency forced some eminent Nigerians apparently referring to Obasanjo and Buhari to testify in the arbitration proceeding taking place in Paris, France.
Onanuga, who did not deny the existence of the case, had said: “All the eminent Nigerians involved in Nigeria’s defence are doing so willingly and out of sheer patriotism and conviction. President Tinubu and the entire country are grateful to them.”
While Buhari’s spokesman was not reachable, Obasanjo’s media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, told Daily Trust on the telephone on Sunday that his principal is currently in France.