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Davnotch Nigeria Limited has launched a fresh and forceful defence of its handling of the controversial Oghareki Independent Power Project (IPP), challenging former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to disclose the whereabouts of two Rolls-Royce Trent gas turbine generators supplied for the project and explain who bought them and for how much.

The company, in a legal statement of facts and formal notice to publishers, described as false and misleading persistent claims that it collected billions of naira from the Delta State Government for the supply and installation of the turbines but never procured or delivered the equipment.

Davnotch argued that the allegations had been effectively contradicted by a consent judgment of the Delta State High Court in November 2020, following a settlement agreement between the company and the state government.

According to the company, the court record established that the turbines were procured and delivered, while the dispute that subsequently arose concerned the government’s failure to fulfil its obligations under the IPP agreement.

The controversy dates back to June 23, 2009, when the Delta State Government, through its State Tenders Board, awarded Davnotch a ₦21.75 billion contract for the supply and installation of two Rolls-Royce Trent gas turbine generators for the Oghareki IPP.

The contract was subsequently reviewed upwards to ₦23.207 billion in May 2011, with Davnotch attributing the increase to additional costs associated with production and shipment of the turbines to Nigeria.

Davnotch said it subsequently supplied the two turbines in 2011 and delivered them to a warehouse belonging to Ibru Seafoods Limited in Oghara for storage pending installation.

The company alleged that the installation phase was stalled by breaches of the formal IPP agreement by the Delta State Government.

It further claimed that despite efforts to revive the project, the administration of Okowa failed to fulfil the government’s obligations under the agreement.

The allegations against Davnotch later triggered investigations and widespread media reports, particularly over claims that the company had collected public funds without delivering the turbines.

Davnotch, however, maintained that it was never indicted or prosecuted by any government agency over the contract.

The company also disclosed that it commenced arbitration proceedings against the Delta State Government in 2016 over alleged breaches of the contract.

According to Davnotch, the matter took a dramatic turn when the Okowa administration sought an amicable settlement to enable the state government to divest the turbines to prospective buyers.

The company said the eventual settlement agreement, dated September 29, 2020, was prepared by the Delta State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice and signed on behalf of the government by then Secretary to the State Government, Chiedu Ebie, and Chief of Staff, Government House, David Edevbie.

The settlement was subsequently adopted as a consent judgment of the Delta State High Court on November 10, 2020, in Suit No. A/M/66/2016.

Davnotch said the terms of the settlement were particularly significant because the state government acknowledged outstanding financial obligations to the company.

Under the agreement, according to Davnotch, the state was to pay the company ₦1.891 billion, representing the outstanding cost of the contract, after the government successfully sold the turbines.

The state was also to pay ₦108 million incurred by Davnotch for storing the turbines and other project equipment between 2011 and 2019, while taking over storage costs from 2020.

Another ₦118.46 million was reportedly acknowledged as money spent by Davnotch on compensation for land on which the IPP was situated.

The settlement also provided for a ₦100 million “walk-away fee” as compensation for terminating Davnotch’s continuing obligation to install the turbines.

Davnotch argued that the settlement fundamentally undermined the long-running allegation that the turbines were never purchased.

“A government does not pay eight years of warehouse rent for turbines that were never bought,” the company stated, arguing that the state’s acceptance of liability for storage and its agreement to pay Davnotch outstanding sums amounted to an official acknowledgement that the equipment had been procured and supplied.

The company further contended that the most compelling question arising from the matter was no longer whether the turbines were purchased, but what happened to them after the Delta Government took steps to divest the IPP assets.

Davnotch therefore challenged Okowa to answer three questions: Where are the turbines? Who bought them? And how much were they sold for?

It said the issue had moved beyond allegations made by political opponents or supporters, insisting that the relevant facts were contained in official government documents and a court judgment.

The company warned publishers, bloggers, commentators and other media platforms against continuing to circulate what it described as the “discredited narrative” that Davnotch collected public funds but supplied nothing.

It stressed that a consent judgment has the force and effect of a judgment of court and cannot, in its view, be displaced by press statements, petitions or social media publications.

Davnotch maintained that the critical documentary trail from the original contract award, through the supply and storage of the turbines, arbitration proceedings, settlement agreement and eventual consent judgment, contradicted claims that the equipment was never procured.

The company consequently called on anyone continuing to publish the contrary narrative to examine the 2020 court judgment and other official records before doing so.

At the heart of Davnotch’s latest intervention is its demand that the former governor and the Delta State Government account for the fate of the two Rolls-Royce Trent turbines and disclose the circumstances surrounding their alleged divestment.

“Ask Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa where the turbines are, how much he sold them for and to whom,” the company declared.