The All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council has said former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is unfit to contest for Nigeria’s presidency, following revelations at the Paris International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, arbitration over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project.
In a press statement issued on Thursday and signed by its spokesman, Dele Alake, the Council alleged that hearings at the ICC Tribunal in the case filed by Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Ltd and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, showed that Abubakar and a former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, worked together to sign a Build-Operate-Transfer contract for the 3,960MW project.
The Council claimed the contract was signed in the final days of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s first term despite objections raised at the Federal Executive Council.
It further alleged that months before the contract award, $500,000 was wired through an offshore account, China Castle Investment, to the US Citibank account of Abubakar’s then wife, Jennifer Douglas, and linked the transaction to a US Senate investigation report titled “Keeping Foreign Corruption out of the United States: Four Case Histories.”
According to the statement, the transaction has now exposed Nigeria to claims of $680 million as settlement and over $2.7 billion in compensation and interest sought by Sunrise.
The Council quoted the Tribunal as stating: “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.”
It added that while former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari appeared in Paris to defend Nigeria, Abubakar did not give evidence at the hearing.
The APC Campaign Council called on Abubakar, who it described as the candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to withdraw from the presidential race and said the people of Taraba State should note that the stalled Mambilla project would have brought economic benefits to the state.
It also referenced remarks about Abubakar contained in former President Obasanjo’s book, “My Watch.”
As of press time, Abubakar has not reacted to the Paris Tribunal proceedings cited by the APC Campaign Council.