• He cannot be trusted with Nigeria’s treasury, APC insists
• Okonkwo dismisses APC’s corruption allegations against Atiku

All Progressives Congress (APC) has questioned former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s suitability for the presidency, alleging that his record is riddled with controversies over bribery, financial transactions and abuse of public office.

Morka cited controversies surrounding the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, the Siemens bribery scandal, the William Jefferson case, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) funds controversy and a 2010 United States Senate investigation into suspicious financial transactions involving Atiku and his former wife, Jennifer Douglas.

The APC spokesman said the issues were not merely allegations, but matters that had featured in official records, court and tribunal proceedings, government investigations and foreign legislative reports.

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 Douglas through an offshore company.

He alleged that the payment occurred around the period the Mambilla contract was awarded, when Atiku was Vice President, and criticised Atiku for what he described as his failure to adequately explain the transaction.

But the spokesman for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected allegations linking the former Vice President to wrongdoing in the controversial Sunrise Power arbitration involving the Federal Government.

Okonkwo, a lawyer, said the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal did not find Atiku guilty of corruption or establish any criminal liability against him.

He spoke during an interview on Arise TV while responding to questions over the tribunal’s handling of claims brought by Sunrise Power against Nigeria and evidence concerning a $500,000 payment made to Jennifer Atiku, Atiku’s former wife.

The payment featured during the arbitration proceedings and has subsequently generated fresh political controversy around the former vice-president.

Okonkwo argued that the existence of the transaction did not, by itself, establish wrongdoing by Atiku.

Meanwhile, the controversial $500,000 payment at the heart of the Mambilla Power Project dispute has triggered fresh calls for investigation of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with the Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) urging the Federal Government to commence proceedings against him before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

IMPI’s demand followed its review of the over 600-page ruling of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration tribunal, which, according to the policy group, raised “significant red flags” over the payment made to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s former wife, by Leno Adesanya, promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited.

The group said the circumstances surrounding the transaction, particularly its timing, the explanations offered for the money and Atiku’s influence in the Federal Government at the time, demanded answers beyond the contractual dispute determined by the arbitration tribunal.

In a policy brief signed by its Chairman, Dr Omoniyi Akinsiju, IMPI described the $500,000 transaction as the “crux” of the Mambilla-ICC saga, arguing that its implications went beyond the arbitration proceedings to questions of public accountability and the integrity of the original concessioning process.

The group’s concerns centre on the tribunal’s rejection of Adesanya’s defence concerning the payment and what it described as the absence of bona fide commercial documentation supporting the transaction.