APC campaign says ICC ruling makes Atiku unfit for presidency
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has accused African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of compromising Nigeria’s interests for personal gain, citing findings from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration proceedings in Paris over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
The council, in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesman, Dele Alake, alleged that Atiku and former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, worked together to facilitate the controversial Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract awarded to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Alake said the contract for the proposed 3,960-megawatt Mambilla hydroelectric power project in Taraba State was signed despite objections and reservations reportedly raised by Obasanjo at the Federal Executive Council.
He alleged that Atiku’s actions placed Nigeria at financial risk, saying the former vice-president had “proven he will compromise Nigeria’s best interests for personal, fiduciary gain.”
The APC campaign council also cited the ICC tribunal’s findings concerning a $500,000 payment made to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s then-wife, by Leno Adesanya through an offshore company, China Castle Investment.
The tribunal, according to Alake, stated: “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.”
The council alleged that the payment was a bribe intended to influence the approval of the contract, while acknowledging that Sunrise and Adesanya had described the transaction as a foreign exchange deal.
Alake said the controversy surrounding the payment and the Mambilla contract exposed Nigeria to substantial financial claims.
