2027: APC ‌⁠‍⁠‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠⁠‌‌‌‌PCC says Atiku unfit to be Nigeria’s president

Atiku

By Emmanuel Mogbe

Mr Dele Alake, Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), has said that Atiku Abubakar, African Democratic Congress (ADC) 2027 presidential candidate is unfit to be the country’s president.

Alake in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said this was especially so because of Atiku’s alleged involvement in the failed Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project when he was the country’s vice-presidential.

He accused Atiku of using his position then to influence the award of the project to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd, even when it didn’t have the capacity to execute such project.

The International Arbitration Tribunal under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, recently gave ruling in favour of Nigeria in a case filed by Sunrise.

Sunrise was seeking the sum of $680m dollars as a settlement sum interest in respect of another arbitration in which it is claiming over $2.7 billion in compensation and interest.

This was in relation to disputes associated with the development of the Mambilla Hydro Power project.

Alake alleged that Atiku through his former wife, Jennifer received the sum of $500,000 before he and the former Minister of Power, Dr Olu Agunloye allegedly working in cahoots, illegally signed the contract with Sunrise.

“Atiku Abubakar’s legendary corruption reverberated in Paris at the International Arbitration Tribunal under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

“The Hearings in the arbitration was filed by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd (Sunrise) and Leno Adesanya over the stalled 3960mw Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba

“It revealed that the ADC presidential candidate and former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye worked in cahoots to sign an illegal power contract with Sunrise.

“Atiku’s greed, however, propelled him to disobey the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and President Obasanjo,” Alake also the Minister of Solid Minerals Development said.

He added that months later, Leno Adesanya, through an offshore account, China Castle Investment, wired $500,000 to the US Citibank account of Atiku’s now divorced wife, Jennifer Douglas.

The APC PCC spokesman recalled that the money arrived in tranches, raising red flags at Citibank and in the United States.

He said the wired money and other suspicious transfers totalling $40 million surfaced in a US Senate investigation into Atiku and other corrupt leaders.

He recalled that in the US Senate report titled “Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories” Jennifer said her husband sent the money and that 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 Government.

“Leno Adesanya was 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 Atiku’s wife on 30 January 2003 and the alleged award of the BOT contract to Sunrise on May 22, 2003,” he said.

He added that Nigeria fought valiantly to dodge this huge liability, echoing a similar attempt by another company, Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), to extract an $11 billion claim from the country for a phantom gas project in Akwa Ibom.

According to Alake to avoid further embarrassment, Atiku choose 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.

He said the disclosure in Paris again justified President Olusegun Obasanjo’s scathing remarks about Atiku’s corruption in his book, My Watch.” What I did Not Know”.

He called on Atiku to do himself an honour by bowing out of the presidential race, as the $500,000 bribe was just the tip of the iceberg of the revelations to come about his monumental corruption.