Mambilla project: Why Atiku ‘unfit’ to contest presidency in 2027 – APC campaign council

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC – PCC) has called on the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to quit the 2027 presidential race over allegations arising from the stalled Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State.

The council made the demand in a statement issued  Friday in Abuja, by its spokesman, Dele Alake, who accused the former vice-president of compromising Nigeria’s interests for personal and financial gain.

According to the statement, revelations from proceedings at the International Chamber of Commerce arbitration tribunal in Paris had brought fresh attention to the controversial 3,960MW Mambilla project and a $500,000 payment made to Atiku’s former wife, Jennifer Douglas.

“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,” the statement said.

The council alleged that the arbitration proceedings showed that Atiku and former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, “worked in cahoots to sign an illegal power contract with Sunrise”.

It said the contract was signed during the final days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term in office, when Atiku was vice-president, despite Obasanjo’s objections to the deal.

“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,” Alake said.

The council linked the contract to a payment of $500,000 allegedly made by Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd, to Douglas through an offshore account.

The council said Nigeria’s decision not to proceed with the disputed contract eventually led Sunrise and Adesanya to initiate claims against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

According to the statement, one of the claims sought $680m as a settlement sum and interest, while another arbitration claim relating to disputes over the Mambilla project sought more than $2.7bn in compensation and interest.

The council said the proceedings in Paris had drawn attention to the timing of the $500,000 payment and the subsequent award of the contract.

It quoted the ICC Paris Tribunal as saying: “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 also revived criticisms made by Obasanjo about Atiku in the former president’s book, ‘My Watch’.

Quoting from the book, Alake said Obasanjo had written: “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 council said the latest revelations had reinforced its allegations against Atiku and urged him to abandon his presidential ambition.

“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,” Alake said.

The council also appealed to voters in Taraba State to take note of Atiku’s alleged role in the history of the Mambilla project.

“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,” the statement said.

The Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project has remained a major unfinished power project in Nigeria, with the controversy surrounding the Sunrise contract and subsequent arbitration forming the basis of the council’s latest attack on Atiku’s presidential ambition.