Aniefiok Christopher
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has taunted the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, over $500000 alleged corruption, demanding his resignation for placing personal gain above Nigeria’s national interest.
Spokesperson for the ruling party’s PCC, Dele Alake, disclosed this in a statement on Friday, in reaction to a recent arbitration tribunal ruling of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France, linking Mr Abubakar with an illegal power contract with Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, during his time as vice president.
Quoting the ruling, Mr Alake said the ICC Paris tribunal concluded that, “There is a close connection in time between the moment the $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.”
Mr Alake, the incumbent Minister of Solid Minerals, said Mr Abubakar “is unfit to be President of Nigeria because he has once again proven he will compromise Nigeria’s best interests for personal, fiduciary gain.”
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The minister said Mr Abubakar’s “legendary corruption” reverberated at the tribunal hearings in the arbitration filed by Sunrise Power and Leno Adesanya over the stalled 3960mw Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State, which he said revealed that Mr Abubakar and former power minister, Olu Agunloye, worked in cahoots to sign the illegal contract.
Mr Alake said, “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 U.S. 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 U.S. Senate investigation into Atiku and other corrupt leaders. In the U.S. 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.”
He stated that Mr Abubakar’s “treasonable act”, after the Nigerian government declined to go ahead with the illegal contract, led Sunrise and Mr Adesanya to make a claim against the country by 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.
“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.”
According to Mr Alake, the ruling in Paris again justified Mr Obasanjo’s scathing remarks about Mr Abubakar’s corruption, in the second part of his book, “My Watch. What I did not know”.
The APC Campaign therefore called on Mr Abubakar to do himself a rare honour by bowing out of the 2027 presidential race, because the $500,000 bribe is just the tip of the iceberg of the revelations to come about his monumental corruption.
Mr Alake said Mr Abubakar plans to bamboozle his way to the presidency as a pro-petrol-subsidy advocate, but was among those responsible for stalling the kick-off of what would have been the country’s biggest hydro-power project, with many economic spin-offs for the people of Taraba State.
How Nigeria Won Sunrise Power Suit
The Federal Government won a nearly nine-year international arbitration battle against Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited over the long-delayed 1,500MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, defeating claims that put Nigeria’s potential exposure at more than $3.38 billion.
The project was originally conceived as a 3,050-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Taraba State, but the Federal Government later reduced the planned capacity by about 50 per cent to 1,525MW before subsequently rescoping it to about 1,500MW to make it financially viable and “bankable” for lenders.
President Bola Tinubu confirmed the victory in a State House statement on Thursday, saying an International Arbitration Tribunal under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France, issued an award in Nigeria’s favour and rejected Sunrise’s claims.
The arbitration battle dates back to October 10, 2017, when Sunrise commenced proceedings against Nigeria at the ICC International Court of Arbitration over an alleged breach of a 2003 agreement concerning the development of the Mambilla power project.
According to the Presidency, Sunrise demanded $680 million as a settlement sum and interest in the latest arbitration relating to another case in which it is claiming more than $2.7 billion in compensation and interest over disputes associated with the development of the Mambilla project in Taraba State.
Combined, the two related claims put Nigeria’s potential exposure at more than $3.38 billion.
The final award issued on September 17, 2026, came nearly nine years after the company commenced arbitration proceedings against the Federal Government.
Tinubu said the ruling had removed a major impediment that prevented the multibillion-dollar power project from progressing. “Today’s ICC ruling clears the single biggest legal hurdle that has paralysed the Mambilla hydro power project for years,” the President said.
Details of the award earlier reported by TheCable showed that the three-member tribunal dismissed Sunrise’s claim for a declaration that Nigeria breached its contractual obligations under a settlement agreement and an addendum entered into by the parties.
The tribunal also rejected the company’s request for an order compelling Nigeria to pay $400m, comprising a settlement sum of $200m and another $200m claimed as a default payment.
According to the report, the tribunal further declared that Sunrise promoter, Leno Adesanya, was bound by the arbitration agreement with Nigeria under the settlement agreement and addendum.
It consequently held that it had jurisdiction over Nigeria’s counterclaim against Adesanya and Sunrise. The tribunal also ordered Sunrise and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of the legal fees and expenses incurred by the country in defending the arbitration.
Nigeria’s legal fees were put at $11.82 million, of which $2.5 million is expected to be covered directly from funds held in escrow by the ICC and released upon notification of the final award.
Sunrise and Adesanya were ordered to pay the outstanding $9.32 million, alongside interest at an annual rate of 10 per cent, compounded annually from the date of notification of the final award until the amount is fully paid.
The arbitration costs were fixed at $1.66 million, with Sunrise and Adesanya expected to bear 75 per cent while Nigeria would shoulder the remaining 25 per cent.
TheCable identified the three members of the tribunal as Melaine van Leeuwen, who presided over the panel, alongside Stavros Brekoulakis and Simon Nesbitt as co-arbitrators.
Nigeria was represented by a legal team led by Elizabeth Oger-Gross and Tolu Obamuroh of Paul Hastings LLP.
Tinubu commended the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, alongside officials of the Federal Ministry of Justice, for their handling of the dispute.
He also praised the country’s legal team for what he described as its professional defence of Nigeria’s interests.
“This latest decision affirms the Nigerian State’s determination not to succumb to predatory and exploitative claims by corrupt local and international entities and their enablers and funders,” Tinubu said.
Tinubu hails ex-Presidents
The President also hailed former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, who testified in Nigeria’s defence during the arbitration proceedings.
“I commend the patriotism and support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, and late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who testified in the case, which dated back to an illegal 2003 contract to build a 3,050-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Taraba State under a build-operate-transfer model. The Federal Executive Council never authorised the contract,” he said.
Tinubu also acknowledged former ministers, Babatunde Fashola and Suleiman Adamu, who participated as witnesses in the case, as well as experts involved in Nigeria’s defence.
He further commended the National Security Adviser for supporting the government’s case and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for its investigation into the dispute.
The dispute has its roots in an agreement reached more than two decades ago over the proposed development of the Mambilla power project. The 2003 contract provided for the construction of a 3,050-megawatt hydroelectric plant in Taraba State under a build-operate-transfer model.
In 2016, then Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, described the project as one that would generate about 3,000MW.
However, in February 2021, then Minister of Power, Saleh Mamman, announced that the Federal Government had revised the planned capacity downward by 50 per cent, from 3,050MW to about 1,525MW.
The stated reason was to reduce the project cost by about $1bn and make it more financially viable.
In July 2021, Mamman told the Senate Committee on Power that the project had subsequently been rescoped to 1,500MW to make it “bankable” and acceptable to lenders.
He said the original 3,050MW capacity was not considered financially viable under prevailing market conditions.
The original project was estimated at about $5 billion–$5.8 billion, while the rescoped project was reported at roughly 1,500–1,525MW and about $4 billion.
The parties subsequently attempted to resolve the dispute through a settlement agreement in 2020.
However, disagreement over the implementation of that settlement led to further arbitration, with Sunrise seeking payment from the Federal Government for allegedly failing to honour the agreement.
