Former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari went to Paris to defend Nigeria in the arbitration over the stalled Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, the APC Presidential Campaign Council said on Friday in a statement by its spokesman, Dele Alake.
The former presidents’ appearance came as Nigeria faced claims from Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd and Leno Adesanya over the 3,960MW project in Taraba State. The dispute placed the country at risk of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in one claim and more than $2.7 billion in another.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris had been examining disputes linked to the project, including the circumstances surrounding a Build-Operate-Transfer contract awarded to Sunrise in 2003.
The APC council said Obasanjo had objected to the contract during his administration and had raised reservations at a Federal Executive Council meeting.
It also alleged that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and then Minister of Power Olu Agunloye proceeded with the contract despite Obasanjo’s position.
The council said the contract was signed during the final months of Obasanjo’s first term, when Atiku was vice-president and wielded considerable political power.
Obasanjo’s objection revisited
The Paris proceedings brought back an old dispute over how the Mambilla contract was handled under the Obasanjo administration.
The APC council said the Federal Executive Council did not back the contract and that Nigeria later refused to proceed with it.
Sunrise and Adesanya then brought a claim against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, seeking $680 million as a settlement sum and interest. They also had another arbitration claim involving more than $2.7 billion in compensation and interest over disputes connected with the Mambilla project.
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The council said the dispute was linked to a $500,000 payment made through an offshore account, China Castle Investment, to the United States bank account of Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s then wife, in January 2003.
It cited the Paris tribunal’s finding that there was a close connection in time between the payment on January 30, 2003, and the alleged award of the Sunrise contract on May 22, 2003.
The council also referred to Obasanjo’s account in his book, My Watch, where the former president criticised Atiku over what he said were problems involving corruption, loyalty, transparency and national interest.
Obasanjo wrote that he later came to know of Atiku’s “propensity to corruption” and “readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.”
The APC council used the tribunal proceedings to renew its criticism of Atiku, who is the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate.
Buhari joins defence of Nigeria
Buhari’s involvement came after he had left office, when the Mambilla dispute was still being fought through arbitration.
The APC council said both Buhari and Obasanjo travelled to Paris to defend Nigeria and help prevent a financial liability that the country could not afford.
It contrasted their participation with Atiku’s absence from the proceedings, saying he did not appear to give evidence in support of Sunrise and Adesanya’s claim that the $500,000 payment was a foreign exchange transaction.
The council said the tribunal had requested a witness statement from Atiku, but claimed Adesanya shielded Atiku and Jennifer Douglas by giving what it called a false account.
The APC council also linked the Mambilla dispute to the wider financial risk posed by international claims against Nigeria, citing the separate case involving Process and Industrial Development, or P&ID, which sought an $11 billion claim over a gas project in Akwa Ibom.
The council said the Mambilla dispute was especially important to Taraba because the project was expected to become Nigeria’s biggest hydro-power project and bring economic benefits to the state.
It accused Atiku of helping to stall the project and called on him to leave the 2027 presidential race.
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