The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Vice President and 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, of being linked to alleged local and international corruption controversies.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, made the allegations in a statement issued on Thursday, citing controversies surrounding the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, the Siemens bribery case, the William Jefferson case, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and a United States Senate investigation into suspicious financial transactions.
Morka alleged that Atiku’s record in public office had been associated with corruption and cronyism, arguing that the controversies would form part of the issues Nigerians would consider ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
“From the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project and the Siemens bribery scandal to the William Jefferson case, the PTDF funds controversy, and the US Senate investigation into suspicious financial transactions, Atiku’s name is engraved ingloriously on files and dossiers of onshore and offshore financial scandals and atrocities,” Morka said.
He added that the issues cited by the APC were documented in various official and legislative records.
“These are not mere allegations. They are matters that are well documented in official records, tribunal proceedings, government investigations, national and foreign legislative reports, and international financial inquiries,” he stated.
On the Mambilla project, Morka referred to proceedings before an International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Tribunal in Paris concerning a $500,000 payment allegedly made in January 2003 by Leno Adesanya, promoter of Sunrise Power, to Jennifer Douglas, who was Atiku’s wife at the time.
The APC spokesman alleged that the payment occurred around the period the Mambilla contract was awarded while Atiku was Vice President.
“Atiku declined an opportunity to explain and justify what clearly was an illegal bribe payment to his wife,” Morka alleged.
Morka also raised the Siemens bribery scandal, alleging that United States authorities accused Siemens of paying at least $4.5 million in bribes to secure telecommunications contracts in Nigeria during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
According to him, about $2.8 million allegedly passed through a bank account linked to Douglas.
“Siemens subsequently agreed to pay approximately $1.6 billion in penalties to US and German authorities over global bribery violations. Again, Atiku’s vice presidential soiled fingerprints are in focus,” he said.
The APC spokesperson further referenced the William Jefferson bribery case, claiming that American investigators examined Atiku and associates in connection with a proposed business transaction involving iGate and Netlink Digital Television.
Morka said US court records showed that Jefferson disclosed paying $100,000 to Atiku in connection with efforts to influence the proposed partnership. Jefferson was later convicted and sentenced to prison.
“Again, Atiku’s dark web of corrupt influence peddling and abuse of office is on display,” Morka stated.
He also cited a 2010 report by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which he said linked Atiku and Jennifer Douglas to more than $40 million in suspicious funds transferred into the United States through offshore companies.
According to Morka, the report indicated that the funds were placed in more than 30 bank accounts associated with Douglas and members of her family.
He said the report “again tells a sordid tale of a man who cannot be trusted with the nation’s treasury.”
Morka also criticised Atiku’s position on fuel subsidy, accusing the former Vice President of changing his position between the 2023 election cycle and the 2027 campaign.
He alleged that Atiku’s current promise to restore fuel subsidy was aimed at gaining access to Nigeria’s foreign reserves.
“The National Treasury that President Tinubu has built strong is what Atiku desires to scatter and plunder under the cover of his fake and unrealistic promise to restore the ruinous fuel subsidy regime,” Morka said.
The APC spokesperson further cited former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s remarks about Atiku in his memoir, My Watch, as well as comments attributed to Obasanjo in August 2026 concerning his decision to choose Atiku as running mate in 1999.
Obasanjo was quoted as saying, “The man I picked as my running mate, my number two, if I had known him as I came to know him later, I would not have picked him.”
Morka interpreted the statement as evidence that Atiku should not seek the presidency.
The APC spokesperson ultimately described Atiku as “an accidental vice president” and said he was “categorically unfit for the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The allegations and characterisations in the statement were made by Morka on behalf of the APC.
