The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race over allegations surrounding a $500,000 payment made to his former wife during negotiations over the disputed Mambilla hydropower project.
Gatekeepers News reports that the call was contained in a statement issued on Friday and signed by Dele Alake, spokesperson for the APC campaign council.
The council based its allegations on proceedings before an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris involving Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and the Federal Government over the Mambilla project.
The tribunal recently rejected Sunrise’s claims against Nigeria and ordered the company and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of its legal costs.
At the centre of the controversy is a $500,000 payment Adesanya transferred on January 30, 2003, to Jennifer Douglas, who was then married to Atiku.
According to the tribunal record, Adesanya said the payment was part of a foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku. The money was transferred through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya, into Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States.
The payment came less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded a build-operate-transfer contract for the Mambilla hydropower project.
However, the tribunal noted that Adesanya did not provide documents supporting his explanation, including evidence of the underlying naira payment, the exchange rate used, instructions from Atiku or his aides, correspondence concerning the transaction or records establishing its commercial purpose. Neither Atiku nor Douglas testified in the arbitration.
APC Links Payment To Mambilla Negotiations
The APC campaign council said the timing of the payment raised questions because it occurred while negotiations over the Mambilla project were ongoing.
The council alleged that Atiku, who was vice-president at the time, and Olu Agunloye, then minister of power, worked together to facilitate the contract despite objections attributed to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The APC said the developments reinforced what it described as longstanding concerns about Atiku’s conduct in public office.
“The APC Campaign calls on Abubakar Atiku to do himself a rare honour by bowing out of the presidential race,” the statement said.
The council further described the $500,000 payment as “just the tip of the iceberg” of what it claimed were further revelations concerning the ADC candidate.
It alleged that the Mambilla controversy showed Atiku had placed personal interests above Nigeria’s national interest and accused him of enabling interests seeking to profit from the country’s resources.
The allegations are those of the APC campaign council; the ICC proceedings themselves concerned the arbitration dispute between Sunrise and Nigeria and did not establish the political conclusions advanced by the APC.
The council also criticised Atiku’s campaign position on petroleum-product subsidies, linking it to the broader political contest ahead of the 2027 election.
It urged Nigerians, particularly residents of Taraba State, to take note of the history of the Mambilla project and its stalled development.
Background
The Mambilla dispute dates back to 2003, when Sunrise expressed interest in developing the hydropower project under a build-operate-transfer arrangement.
Sunrise later relied on a May 22, 2003 letter issued by Agunloye as evidence that it had been awarded the project.
Obasanjo subsequently disputed the minister’s authority to commit the Federal Government to the deal and said he had directed Agunloye to withdraw the proposal from the Federal Executive Council.
In a 2023 interview with TheCable, Obasanjo said he had not approved the contract and questioned how Agunloye could commit the government to a $6 billion project without his authorisation.
Sunrise commenced arbitration against Nigeria in 2017, seeking about $2.35 billion over an alleged breach of the 2003 agreement.
The ICC tribunal ultimately rejected Sunrise’s claims and ordered the company and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of its legal costs.
