*Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of compromising Nigeria’s national interest over the controversial Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.
The council’s allegation followed the recent ruling by an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris, which rejected claims by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited arising from the long-running dispute over the Mambilla project. The tribunal also ordered Sunrise and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse Nigeria 75 per cent of its legal costs, estimated at $11.82 million.
In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by its spokesman, Dele Alake, the APC campaign council alleged that Atiku, who was Vice-President under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, worked together in the controversial award of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract to Sunrise.
The council specifically cited the tribunal’s examination of a $500,000 payment made by Adesanya through his offshore company, China Castle Investments Limited, to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s then wife, in January 2003.
According to reports on the tribunal’s final award, the payment was made on January 30, 2003, less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded the Mambilla contract. Adesanya acknowledged making the transfer but maintained that it was part of a foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku. The tribunal found that the explanation was not supported by sufficient documentary evidence.
The tribunal, however, did not make a finding that Atiku received a bribe or that he directly used his office to secure the contract for Sunrise. Reports on the award said the panel considered the timing and circumstances of the payment significant but stopped short of establishing that Atiku had exercised his official duties to procure the contract.
The APC campaign council nevertheless interpreted the findings as evidence of wrongdoing by the former Vice-President.
It alleged that the contract was signed despite reservations attributed to the Federal Executive Council and former President Obasanjo, and argued that the circumstances surrounding the transaction exposed Nigeria to substantial financial liabilities.
The council said Sunrise subsequently pursued claims against Nigeria relating to the Mambilla project, including a demand for $680 million in a separate arbitration and claims exceeding $2.7 billion in compensation and interest. The broader disputes were ultimately rejected by the ICC tribunal.
“By collecting a $500,000 bribe from Leno Adesanya to approve a Build-Operate-Transfer contract,” the APC campaign council alleged, arguing that Atiku had demonstrated a willingness to put personal interests ahead of the national interest.
The council also criticised Atiku for not appearing in Paris to give evidence in the arbitration proceedings, contrasting this with former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari, whom it said participated in efforts to defend Nigeria’s position.
It further cited criticisms of Atiku contained in Obasanjo’s book, My Watch, particularly the former President’s allegations concerning Atiku’s integrity, transparency and judgment.
The APC campaign council subsequently called on Atiku to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race, arguing that the Mambilla controversy was evidence that he should not seek the presidency.
The council also directed its criticism at Atiku’s political position on petrol subsidy, while accusing him of contributing to the prolonged delay in the development of the Mambilla hydropower project and the economic benefits it could have generated for Taraba State.
The ICC ruling itself represents a significant legal development for Nigeria. The tribunal rejected Sunrise’s claims, including a $400 million claim linked to an earlier settlement, and ordered the company and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria for a substantial portion of its legal expenses. President Bola Tinubu has described the decision as removing a major legal obstacle to the revival of the Mambilla project.
See the full statement by Dele Alake below:
ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN COUNCIL
PRESS STATEMENT
PARIS ICC ARBITRATION COURT RULING: ATIKU ABUBAKAR UNFIT FOR NIGERIA’S PRESIDENCY
Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress candidate, is unfit to be President of Nigeria because he has once again proven he will compromise Nigeria’s best interests for personal, fiduciary gain.
Abubakar’s legendary corruption reverberated in Paris at the International Arbitration Tribunal under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Hearings in the arbitration filed by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd (Sunrise) and Leno Adesanya over the stalled 3960mw Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State revealed that Abubakar and former power minister Olu Agunloye worked in cahoots to sign an illegal power contract with Sunrise.
The backdoor signing of the contract in the dying days of then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term, when Atiku wielded enormous power, put Nigeria in a serious financial peril, despite President Obasanjo’s objection and reservations at the Federal Executive Council meeting.
Atiku’s greed, however, propelled him to disobey the council and President Obasanjo, months after Leno Adesanya, through an offshore account, China Castle Investment, wired $500,000 to the US Citibank account of his now-divorced wife, Jennifer Douglas. The money arrived in tranches, raising red flags at Citibank and in the United States. The wired money and other suspicious transfers totalling $40 million surfaced in a US Senate investigation into Atiku and other corrupt leaders. In the US Senate report titled “Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories”, Jennifer said her husband sent the money. She said she was not familiar with the offshore company that wired the money.
Atiku’s treasonable act, after the Nigerian government declined to go ahead with the illegal contract, led Sunrise and Leno Adesanya to make a claim against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, demanding $680 million as a settlement sum and interest in respect of another arbitration in which it is claiming over $2.7 billion in compensation and interest relating to disputes associated with the development of the Mambilla Hydro Power project.
As the ICC Paris Tribunal concluded: “There is a close connection in time between the moment the USD 500,000 payment was made to the wife of Vice-President Abubakar on 30 January 2003 and the alleged award of the BOT contract to Sunrise on 22 May 2003.”
Nigeria fought valiantly to dodge this huge liability, echoing a similar attempt by another rogue company, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), to extract an $11 billion claim from our country for a phantom gas project in Akwa Ibom that the company did not spend a dime on.
By collecting a $500,000 bribe from Leno Adesanya to approve a Build-Operate-Transfer contract to a company with no scintilla of experience in hydro power generation, Atiku has proven he is one of the enablers of local and international predatory and exploitative entities out to defraud our country.
At the hearing in Paris, Atiku, to avoid embarrassment, chose to stay away to give evidence in support of Sunrise and Leno Adesanya’s specious claim that the $500,000 was a foreign exchange transaction. Although the Tribunal requested Atiku’s witness statement, Adesanya shielded Atiku and Jennifer Douglas by lying. In contrast, President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Muhammadu Buhari went to Paris to defend Nigeria and help stave off a liability that our country can ill-afford to redeem in these lean times.
The disclosure in Paris once again justified President Obasanjo’s scathing remarks about Atiku’s corruption in his book, My Watch. “ What I did not know”, the former Nigerian leader wrote in the second part of the book, “which came out glaringly later, was his parental background, which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor judgement, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.”
The APC Campaign calls on Abubakar Atiku to do himself a rare honour by bowing out of the presidential race, as the $500,000 bribe is just the tip of the iceberg of the revelations to come about his monumental corruption.
The people of Taraba State should also note that the ADC candidate, who plans to pull wool over our eyes and bamboozle his way to the presidency as a pro-petrol-subsidy candidate, is one of the people responsible for the stalled kick-off of what would have been the biggest hydro-power project in Nigeria, with many economic spin-offs for the people of the state.
Dele Alake,
Spokesman of the APC Presidential Campaign Council,
Abuja
September 18, 2026