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The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, to withdraw from the 2027 presidential race following fresh revelations arising from the long-running Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project dispute.
The demand was contained in a statement issued on Friday by APC Campaign Council spokesman Dele Alake, who linked a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s then-wife, with events surrounding the controversial Mambilla project.
The controversy resurfaced after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal in Paris rejected claims brought by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited against the Federal Government over the proposed 3,960-megawatt Mambilla project in Taraba State. The tribunal also ordered Sunrise and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of its legal costs, reportedly amounting to about $11.82 million.
According to details of the arbitration proceedings, Adesanya acknowledged transferring the $500,000 to Douglas through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company he controlled. He reportedly told the tribunal that the payment was connected to a foreign-exchange transaction carried out for Atiku.
However, reports on the tribunal’s findings said that explanation was not substantiated by sufficient documentary evidence. The tribunal also noted the timing of the transaction, which occurred on January 30, 2003, less than four months before the purported award of the Mambilla Build-Operate-Transfer contract to Sunrise on May 22, 2003.
The APC Campaign Council seized on the findings to renew its allegations against Atiku, accusing him and former Minister of Power Olu Agunloye of facilitating the controversial contract despite objections attributed to then-President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Alake described the $500,000 payment as a major issue emerging from the arbitration proceedings and urged Atiku to abandon his presidential ambition.
The council also questioned Atiku’s absence from the Paris proceedings, contrasting it with the appearances of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari in connection with Nigeria’s defence of the case.
However, the reported ICC findings should be distinguished from the APC’s political interpretation of them. Reports of the tribunal proceedings indicate that while the panel examined the payment and rejected the foreign-exchange explanation as unsupported by the evidence presented, the arbitration ruling itself did not establish that Atiku personally received a bribe.
The Mambilla controversy dates back to 2003 and has generated years of legal disputes and competing claims over whether Sunrise had secured a valid contract to develop the massive hydropower project.
Sunrise later pursued multibillion-dollar claims against Nigeria, but the ICC tribunal’s latest decision rejected the company’s claims and brought another major chapter of the dispute to a close.
The APC campaign council has nevertheless turned the latest revelations into a fresh political challenge to Atiku as preparations intensify for the 2027 presidential election.
Alake said the party believed the issues surrounding the Mambilla project warranted Atiku’s withdrawal from the race, while also urging residents of Taraba State to take note of the controversy surrounding the long-delayed project.
The development is expected to further intensify the political battle between the APC and Atiku’s ADC as the 2027 contest gathers momentum.
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