The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race over revelations surrounding a $500,000 payment to his former wife during the controversy over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
The APC Campaign Council made the call in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, following the conclusion of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration proceedings in Paris involving Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and the Federal Government over the 3,960-megawatt Mambilla project in Taraba State.
The tribunal examined a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 by Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power, to Jennifer Douglas, who was then married to Atiku.
The payment was made through an offshore company, China Castle Investment Limited.
According to the tribunal’s findings, Adesanya maintained that the payment was connected to a foreign-exchange transaction. However, the tribunal rejected that explanation, finding that the evidence before it did not establish the transaction as a genuine foreign-exchange arrangement.
The tribunal also noted the timing of the payment, which was made on January 30, 2003, before the purported award of the Mambilla Build-Operate-Transfer contract to Sunrise on May 22, 2003.
The APC Campaign Council, however, went further to accuse Atiku of compromising Nigeria’s interests for personal gain.
Alake alleged that Atiku and former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, worked together to facilitate the contract with Sunrise despite objections to the deal.
He said the contract was signed during the final months of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first administration, when Atiku was Vice President.
According to Alake, the development had exposed Nigeria to substantial financial liabilities arising from the dispute over the Mambilla project.
He said Atiku’s decision to stay away from the Paris proceedings, where his testimony had been requested, was also significant.
“Although the Tribunal requested Atiku’s witness statement, Adesanya shielded Atiku and Jennifer Douglas by lying,” Alake alleged.
He contrasted this with the decision of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari to appear in Paris in defence of Nigeria’s position.
The APC spokesman subsequently called on Atiku to withdraw from the 2027 presidential contest.
“The APC Campaign calls on Abubakar Atiku to do himself a rare honour by bowing out of the presidential race,” Alake said.
He added that the $500,000 payment was “just the tip of the iceberg” of what he described as further revelations about Atiku.
Alake also linked the controversy to the continued delay in the Mambilla project, arguing that its stalled development had denied Taraba State and Nigeria the economic benefits that could have resulted from the proposed hydroelectric project.
The Mambilla project has been the subject of a long-running legal dispute between Sunrise Power and the Federal Government.
In its ruling, the ICC tribunal rejected Sunrise’s claims against Nigeria, bringing another chapter of the dispute over the project to a close.
