Atiku Denies Corruption in Mambilla Project as APC Escalates Attack

The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has rejected claims made by the All Progressives Congress that connect him to improper conduct detailed in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration decision concerning the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project. Via his spokesperson Phrank Shaibu on September 18, 2026, Abubakar pressed the APC to identify tribunal findings that would substantiate their bribery or misconduct allegations.

Central to this controversy is a $500,000 transaction that received examination during ICC arbitration hearings. Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, principal Leno Adesanya, and Nigeria's government were parties to the case.

The arbitration award, issued September 16, 2026, examined this financial transfer relating to the disputed power initiative. The APC campaign council leveraged this finding to demand that Atiku step back from contesting the 2027 presidential election, asserting that the tribunal's conclusions raise troubling matters regarding his behavior.

Atiku's defense challenges the manner in which the APC has interpreted the tribunal's determinations. His response urges the ruling party to provide the exact tribunal paragraph documenting that he solicited bribes, influenced former Power Minister Olu Agunloye to direct the Sunrise Power contract award, or misused his official position.

He maintains that the tribunal rendered no finding of corruption directed at him, characterizing APC assertions as distortions of what the arbitration concluded. These contentions, emerging throughout Nigeria's electoral period, have intensified political tensions separating the two organizations.

The ICC arbitration itself wrestled with intricate contractual disagreements pertaining to the Mambilla scheme, with the tribunal's examination of fund movements forming part of its comprehensive review of the agreement. Atiku's stance on the payment and what the tribunal actually concluded about his involvement remain sources of ongoing political friction.