‘Produce any corruption conviction against Atiku’ – ADC challenges APC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to produce any corruption conviction against its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The challenge followed comments by APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, who advised Nigerians against entrusting the country’s treasury to the former vice-president.

Reacting in a statement, Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC campaign council, accused the APC spokesperson of presenting allegations against Atiku as though they were established convictions.

Morka had questioned Atiku’s record by referring to issues surrounding the Mambilla hydroelectric power project, the Siemens bribery controversy, the William Jefferson case, the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) funds controversy and a 2010 report by the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Shaibu, however, challenged the ruling party to produce evidence of any corruption conviction against Atiku in connection with the allegations it raised.

However, Shaibu challenged Morka to identify the court that convicted Atiku and produce the judgement.

“Morka may raise each matter. He may not strip away the report’s distinctions and present the resulting fiction as a judgment against Atiku,” he said.

“If he claims there is a conviction, let him identify the court and publish the judgment.”

ADC DISPUTES MAMBILLA CLAIMS

The campaign council also challenged Morka’s interpretation of the $500,000 payment made by Leno Adesanya, promoter of Sunrise Power, to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s former wife, in January 2003.

The payment featured in the arbitration proceedings concerning the Mambilla power project before an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal in Paris, France.

Shaibu said the tribunal questioned Adesanya’s explanation for the payment but did not find that Atiku received a bribe or used his office to secure the disputed contract for Sunrise Power.

“Adesanya’s explanation about the said payment may have called for further probe by the tribunal, but it does not give Morka permission to write a corruption verdict the tribunal never delivered,” Shaibu said.

He also disputed Morka’s presentation of the 2010 US senate report, saying it examined financial transactions involving Atiku and Douglas but did not establish the former vice-president’s criminal guilt.

Shaibu said the report discussed Siemens payments to an account held by Douglas without establishing that Atiku received the money.

He added that the report recorded that no evidence was introduced at William Jefferson’s trial showing that Atiku sought or accepted a bribe from the former US congressman.

ADC RAISES QUESTIONS TINUBU’S RECORD

Shaibu said the APC’s attack on Atiku had prompted the council to also raise questions about President Bola Tinubu’s public record.

He referred to a US forfeiture case involving Tinubu, which, according to him, resulted in the forfeiture of $460,000 from an account in his name.

“Morka’s colleagues will rush to tell Nigerians that a search result is not a conviction. Nobody has said it is,” he said.

“But that observation does not erase the court’s finding that Tinubu was a subject of an investigation. Nigerians deserve to know what the records say, what role he played in the events they describe, and why disclosure has been resisted.”

The ADC campaign council spokesperson also challenged Morka’s claim that Tinubu had raised Nigeria’s foreign reserves from $3 billion to more than $54 billion.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported foreign reserves of $34.39 billion at the end of May 2023.

“Morka simply deleted more than $31 billion from what Tinubu inherited, then invited Nigerians to applaud the ‘miracle’ that followed,” he said.

“The missing money did not disappear from Nigeria’s reserves. It disappeared inside an APC press statement.”

Shaibu also defended Atiku’s proposal for a targeted subsidy on petroleum products refined in Nigeria, saying the policy was intended to make fuel more affordable while supporting domestic refining.

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