Mambilla: Atiku Challenges APC To Produce Tribunal’s Corruption Verdict

Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to produce the portion of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) tribunal’s final award which convicted or found him culpable of corruption over the controversial Mambilla power project.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday accused the APC Campaign Council of distorting the outcome of the Mambilla arbitration by presenting allegations examined by the tribunal as a corruption verdict against him.

The APC had linked Atiku to the controversy surrounding the 3,960-megawatt Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project in Taraba State, including a $500,000 payment involving Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

But Atiku insisted that the tribunal never found that he received a bribe, abused his office or corruptly influenced the award of the Mambilla contract to Sunrise Power.

He challenged the APC to identify the paragraphs in the final award where the tribunal found that he solicited or received a bribe, instructed former Power Minister Olu Agunloye to award the contract to Sunrise or participated in a corrupt conspiracy.

“These are not questions of political opinion. They are questions of record. They have factual answers,” Atiku said.

The former vice president said the tribunal’s consideration of the $500,000 transfer did not amount to a finding that he received a bribe or corruptly influenced the contract.

According to him, the tribunal rejected Adesanya’s explanation that the money, transferred through China Castle Investments to Jennifer Douglas, arose from a foreign-exchange transaction because there was no documentary evidence supporting the explanation.

Atiku, however, maintained that the rejection of Adesanya’s explanation was fundamentally different from a finding that he himself received a bribe or used his office to secure the Sunrise contract.

“An unsuccessful explanation by Leno Adesanya does not automatically become a corruption verdict against Atiku Abubakar,” he said.

He also rejected claims that he deliberately stayed away after being summoned by the tribunal, saying he was not a party to the arbitration and did not testify before it.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I was not a party to the arbitration and I did not testify before the tribunal,” Atiku said.

He argued that the reported contents of the award did not establish that the tribunal summoned him, ordered him to testify or found that he disobeyed any directive to appear.

Atiku noted that former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari testified on behalf of Nigeria, while former ministers Babatunde Fashola and Suleiman Adamu also participated in Nigeria’s defence.

He said their participation could not be interpreted as evidence that he had been summoned by the tribunal and refused to appear.

According to him, the arbitration involved Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, Leno Adesanya and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and did not impose damages, costs or other liability on him.

He further stated that the tribunal dismissed Sunrise’s claims and ordered the company and Adesanya to reimburse Nigeria for 75 per cent of its legal fees and expenses.

Atiku also drew a comparison between the Mambilla arbitration and a 1993 United States civil-forfeiture case involving property held in the name of President Bola Tinubu, arguing that allegations and judicial findings should not be conflated.

He said an order by a United States court directing the forfeiture of $460,000 held in an account in Tinubu’s name was not the same as a criminal conviction of Tinubu personally for drug trafficking.

“The same standard must apply to everyone. Do not convert allegation into conviction. Do not transfer findings from one person to another. Do not manufacture a verdict where none has been produced,” he said.

Atiku urged the APC to publish any portion of the Mambilla award supporting its allegations and allow Nigerians to examine the tribunal’s findings.

He further accused the ruling party of using the controversy to divert attention from issues ahead of the 2027 general elections, including the cost of living, unemployment, insecurity and the impact of the economic policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration.

“Nigerians can read. Nigerians can distinguish allegation from adjudication. And Nigerians should not be asked to surrender their judgment to campaign propaganda,” Atiku said.

He maintained that the APC should not present campaign allegations as findings of an international tribunal.

“An allegation is not a finding. Suspicion is not proof. The rejection of one man’s explanation is not the conviction of another man,” he said.