Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga has challenged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to address the $500,000 bribe allegation hanging over him rather than divert public attention with his newfound campaign mantra on petrol subsidy.
In a statement on Friday, Onanuga said Atiku was “at his evasive best” when he convened a World Press Conference but avoided comment on his indictment in Paris by the ICC over the illegal Mambilla Hydro Power Project contract.
According to the statement, Atiku and former power minister Olu Agunloye awarded the contract to Sunrise Power without authorisation from the Federal Executive Council and President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Onanuga said hearings at the Tribunal revealed that Atiku collected a $500,000 bribe from Sunrise and its CEO, Leno Adesanya, to approve the contract. The money, he said, was wired in tranches to the US Citibank account of Atiku’s former wife, Jennifer Douglas — triggering red flags at Citibank and featuring in the US Senate investigation into Atiku’s corruption and money laundering.
He quoted the Paris tribunal as saying: “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.”
Onanuga argued that a man who cares about his integrity and wants to offer himself for leadership should address the integrity issue first. Instead, he said, Atiku used the press conference to push his pro-petrol subsidy stance and attack the Tinubu administration with a claim that it plans to withdraw electricity subsidies, a claim the Power Minister, Joseph Tegbe, has already debunked.
“But Atiku doesn’t care a hoot. He must weaponise everything in his desperation for power,” Onanuga said.
Describing Atiku as “the diverter-in-chief,” Onanuga said the former vice president takes Nigerians for buffoons, thinking his crimes against the Nigerian people do not matter.
“Nigerians should not be deceived: Atiku does not have the people’s interests at heart. He cares more about himself,” he said.
Onanuga also asked Nigerians to consider what was at stake for the public treasury if Atiku’s allies had succeeded in Paris. He said Sunrise and Leno Adesanya would have walked away with $3.38 billion, including the $680 million settlement sum and interest, plus the $2.7 billion claim for compensation and interest related to the non-development of the Mambilla Hydro Power project.
He concluded that a politician who aspires to lead Nigeria must be willing to answer questions about his integrity, and urged Atiku to respond to the $500,000 bribe directly rather than divert public attention with unsupported allegations against the government.
The statement came hours after Atiku held a World Press Conference in Abuja on Friday, where he attacked the Tinubu administration over an alleged plan to phase out electricity subsidies, but again said nothing about the $500,000 bribe allegation.
Atiku’s address came just a day after the Federal Government clarified that there was no immediate plan to increase electricity tariffs. Power Minister Joseph Tegbe had stated that the government’s priority was improving service delivery and expanding metering, not raising prices.
Despite that clarification, Atiku claimed Nigerians were “now being told that electricity subsidies will be phased out from 2027,” warning that “the lesson of petrol must not be repeated with electricity”.
“Electricity is already expensive. Families are calculating how long their units will last,” Atiku said, listing barbers, tailors, frozen-food sellers, welders and manufacturers as those who would be hardest hit.
He urged President Tinubu to use what he described as his remaining eight months in office to give Nigerians relief, saying “eight months may sound short inside Aso Rock, but eight months is a very long time when you are living from hand to mouth”.
Atiku also offered to provide the administration with policy ideas, saying Tinubu could “rename it if he wishes, and even take the credit”.
Yet on the question of his own integrity, the $500,000 bribe allegedly wired to his former wife’s Citibank account, the Paris Tribunal’s finding of a “close connection” between that payment and the Sunrise contract award, Atiku said nothing.
As Onanuga noted in his response, a man who wants to lead Nigeria must be willing to answer questions about his integrity first. Atiku had a platform. He chose to use it to attack the government and push his subsidy mantra instead.
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