The African Democratic Congress presidential campaign council has challenged the All Progressives Congress to produce any court judgment that has convicted its candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, of corruption.
The demand came on Friday in a statement by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Campaign Council. It was a direct response to comments by APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, who had described Atiku as unfit for the presidency and linked him to several past controversies.
Morka’s statement, issued around Thursday, cited the Mambilla hydroelectric power project arbitration, the Siemens matter, the William Jefferson case, Petroleum Technology Development Fund issues and a 2010 United States Senate report. He argued these formed a record that should keep Atiku away from the national treasury and called him an “accidental vice president” who is “categorically unfit” for the office.
Shaibu rejected the framing. He said Morka was treating allegations and examined transactions as if they were proven convictions. “Morka piles rumour upon insinuation, pronounces sentence in an APC press release and expects Nigerians to mistake his fury for evidence,” the statement said. “He may shout like a prosecutor and posture like a judge, but he cannot manufacture a conviction. If he has a judgment against Atiku, let him produce it. If he does not, he should stop parading his allegations as the verdict of a court.”
The ADC council said the attacks failed to address the daily struggles of Nigerians with the cost of food, fuel, transport and electricity. It described Morka’s approach as a “grubby attempt to conduct a trial by insult” from a party whose own leader faces historical questions.
Shaibu pointed to a 1993 United States civil forfeiture case involving accounts linked to Bola Tinubu. A federal court ordered the forfeiture of about $460,000, with a sworn affidavit from investigators describing connections to a heroin distribution network, bank introductions, wire transfers and associated companies. The statement noted that Tinubu was identified as a subject of investigation involving the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration in related records, though the forfeiture itself was civil and not a criminal conviction. It also recalled that Tinubu faced Code of Conduct Tribunal charges in 2011 over foreign accounts while Lagos governor; those charges were struck out on procedural grounds.
On the Mambilla arbitration before an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal in Paris, the ADC said the panel questioned Leno Adesanya’s explanation for a $500,000 payment made in January 2003 to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s then-wife. The tribunal did not find that Atiku received a bribe, directed the award of any contract to Sunrise Power, or abused his office.
It further held that there was actually no contract.
The 2010 US Senate report, according to the council, examined certain transfers involving Atiku and Douglas but did not determine criminal guilt. It discussed Siemens-related payments to an account held by Douglas without establishing that Atiku received them, and recorded that no evidence at the William Jefferson trial showed Atiku sought or accepted a bribe. A Nigerian Senate committee recommendation on PTDF was noted, but the report found no evidence the Senate imposed sanctions.
The council also disputed Morka’s claim that foreign reserves rose from $3 billion to over $54 billion under the current administration. It cited Central Bank of Nigeria figures showing $34.39 billion at the end of May 2023.
Shaibu said Atiku would continue to answer serious questions with facts while focusing the campaign on the cost of living, unemployment, insecurity and declining purchasing power. The exchange forms part of the intensifying political contest ahead of the 2027 general elections, in which Atiku is the ADC presidential candidate.
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