$500,000 Mambilla Payment Sparks APC-Atiku 2027 Political Battle
A disputed $500,000 transaction examined during international arbitration over the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project has opened a fresh political battle ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 presidential election, with the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council calling on African Democratic Congress candidate Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the race.
The controversy followed Nigeria’s victory in arbitration proceedings involving Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and its promoter, Leno Adesanya, over the long-running Mambilla power project dispute.
The International Chamber of Commerce tribunal rejected Sunrise’s claims against Nigeria and ordered the company and Adesanya to reimburse the Federal Government for 75 per cent of its legal fees and expenses, amounting to about $11.8 million.
However, attention has shifted from Nigeria’s arbitration victory to details concerning a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 to Jennifer Douglas, who was Atiku’s wife at the time.
According to accounts of the tribunal’s final award, Adesanya transferred the money through China Castle Investments Limited, an offshore company he controlled, into Douglas’s Citibank account in the United States.
Adesanya reportedly told the tribunal that the transaction was part of a foreign-exchange arrangement carried out for Atiku, who was serving as Nigeria’s Vice President at the time.
The tribunal reportedly found that the explanation was not supported by contemporaneous documentary evidence.
The timing of the transaction has become central to the political controversy because it occurred less than four months before Sunrise was purportedly awarded a build-operate-transfer contract connected with the Mambilla project.
Capitalising on the disclosures, the APC Presidential Campaign Council alleged that the circumstances surrounding the transaction raised serious questions about Atiku’s role during the period.
In a statement by its spokesman, Dele Alake, the campaign council called on the former Vice President to withdraw from the 2027 presidential contest.
The APC alleged that Atiku and then Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye, facilitated the controversial Mambilla arrangement despite objections surrounding the contract.
It further argued that the prolonged controversy exposed Nigeria to enormous financial claims and contributed to years of uncertainty surrounding the proposed hydroelectric project.
The Mambilla dispute stretches back more than two decades.
Sunrise relied on a May 22, 2003 letter issued by Agunloye as evidence that it had been awarded rights to develop the project. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo subsequently disputed that position and maintained that the Federal Executive Council did not approve the contract.
Sunrise eventually commenced arbitration proceedings against Nigeria, seeking billions of dollars over alleged breaches connected with the project.
The latest arbitration decision represents a major victory for Nigeria after the tribunal dismissed the company’s claims.
But the ruling has now become part of the increasingly intense political contest ahead of the 2027 election.
While the APC has characterised the $500,000 transaction as evidence supporting its allegations against Atiku, the tribunal did not make a finding that Atiku personally received a bribe.
Atiku has strongly rejected the APC’s interpretation of the arbitration proceedings.
Through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the ADC presidential candidate challenged the ruling party to identify any section of the tribunal’s final award stating that he collected a $500,000 bribe, influenced the award of the Mambilla contract or participated in a corrupt conspiracy.
Atiku maintained that rejecting Adesanya’s explanation for the transaction was different from establishing that the former Vice President received a bribe.
He also denied playing a role in the technical procurement process that led to Sunrise’s involvement in the Mambilla project.
According to him, he neither sat on the procurement panel nor awarded the contract and the APC must provide evidence for its allegations rather than present political claims as findings of the tribunal.
Atiku similarly disputed suggestions that he ignored a summons from the arbitration panel, maintaining that he was not a party to the proceedings and that the reported award did not establish that the tribunal ordered him to appear.
The competing claims have transformed what was primarily an international commercial arbitration dispute into another major campaign issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
For the APC, the disclosures provide an opportunity to question Atiku’s record during his years as Vice President.
For Atiku, the central argument is that the ruling party is attempting to turn allegations and questions considered during arbitration into conclusions the tribunal itself did not make.
Beyond the political exchanges, the arbitration victory has potentially removed a significant legal obstacle surrounding the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, a development successive Nigerian administrations have pursued for decades.
The emerging political controversy, however, suggests that while the international legal battle may have moved decisively in Nigeria’s favour, the domestic political battle surrounding Mambilla is far from over as the 2027 campaign gathers momentum.
