2027: APC Attacks Atiku, Says ADC Candidate Unfit For Presidency

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former Vice President and 2027 candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, of involvement in local and international bribery and corruption schemes, saying his record makes him unfit to occupy the presidency.

Naija News reports that the APC spokesperson, Felix Morka, made the allegation in a statement on Thursday in which he 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 US Senate investigation into suspicious financial transactions.

Morka said Atiku’s past as a public official was marked by what he described as corruption and cronyism, which he alleged had damaged Nigeria’s economy and public trust.

He said the forthcoming presidential election would give Nigerians an opportunity to reject Atiku’s bid for the presidency.

“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.

“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,” Morka said.

On the Mambilla project, Morka said an International Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Tribunal in Paris examined a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 by Leno Adesanya, promoter of Sunrise Power, to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s wife at the time, through an offshore company.

He said the payment occurred around the period when 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 said.

He also cited the Siemens bribery scandal, alleging that US authorities had accused Siemens of paying at least $4.5m in bribes to secure Nigerian telecommunications contracts during the Obasanjo administration.

According to Morka, approximately $2.8m reportedly passed through a bank account owned by Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s former wife.

“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.

Morka also referred to the William Jefferson bribery case, alleging that Atiku and his close associates came under the scrutiny of American investigators.

He said US court records indicated that former Congressman William Jefferson disclosed paying Atiku $100,000 to influence a proposed business partnership involving iGate and Netlink Digital Television.

Jefferson was eventually convicted and sentenced to prison.

“Again, Atiku’s dark web of corrupt influence peddling and abuse of office is on display,” Morka said.

The APC spokesperson further cited the 2010 report of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which he said linked Atiku and Jennifer Douglas to more than $40m in suspicious funds transferred into the United States through offshore companies.

According to Morka, the funds were lodged in more than 30 bank accounts associated with Douglas and 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 attacked Atiku over his position on fuel subsidy, accusing him of making a sudden U-turn from his 2023 policy position in favour of subsidy removal to his current promise to restore the subsidy regime if elected.

Morka said Atiku’s U-turn on the fuel subsidy policy was simply an attempt to gain access to Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

Morka claimed the reserves had reached an 18-year high of more than $54bn, after being built up from $3bn by President Bola Tinubu in less than four years through what he described as bold and prudent economic reforms.

“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,” he said.

Morka also cited former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s assessment of Atiku in his book, My Watch, saying Obasanjo characterised the former Vice President as having a propensity for corruption, a tendency toward disloyalty, poor judgment and a readiness to sacrifice the national interest for selfish gains.

He further referred to Obasanjo’s comments in August 2026, when the former president described his decision to select Atiku as his running mate in 1999 as the biggest mistake of his presidency.

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 described the statement as “an open-and-shut reference by the former president, Atiku’s principal, to his unfitness for public office.”

The APC spokesperson concluded by describing Atiku as “an accidental vice president” and said he was “categorically unfit for the office of president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”