By Kazeem Ugbodaga
A 2026 ICC arbitral tribunal in Paris has examined a $500,000 payment made to Jennifer Douglas Abubakar, then wife of Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, amid allegations surrounding the disputed Mambilla power project award.
The payment, made on January 30, 2003, by Leno Adesanya through his offshore company, China Castle Investments Ltd, to Jennifer Douglas Abubakar’s Citibank account in the United States, became a central piece of evidence in Nigeria’s corruption allegations against Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and Adesanya.
The details are contained in the Final Award of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Case No. 26260/SPN/AB/CPB, dated September 16, 2026. The arbitration involved Sunrise, Adesanya and the Federal Government of Nigeria over the Mambilla Project.
The tribunal, however, did not make a finding that Atiku Abubakar received a bribe. Rather, it examined whether the payment could be connected to the alleged award of the Mambilla Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract to Sunrise and whether the explanations offered for the transaction were credible.
According to the award, Adesanya did not dispute transferring the $500,000 to Jennifer Douglas Abubakar. He maintained that the transaction was a foreign-exchange deal undertaken for Atiku, whom he described as his friend.
But the tribunal said it was unable to accept that explanation because there was no contemporaneous documentary evidence or witness evidence from Atiku or Jennifer corroborating it.
The tribunal also noted that the money was transferred by China Castle Investments, an offshore company controlled by Adesanya, rather than by Moneyline Ventures, the company through which Adesanya said he had operated a bureau de change business.
The tribunal found that China Castle did not hold a bureau de change licence and that foreign-exchange transactions were not among its corporate purposes.
The award further records evidence showing the close relationship between Adesanya and Atiku at the time. A US State Department cable of February 25, 2003, described Adesanya as an “Atiku insider” and an associate of the then Vice-President.
The tribunal also found that Atiku had been directly involved in the Mambilla Project from at least 2001. Adesanya’s evidence was that his consortium’s discussions with the Nigerian Government over the project had primarily involved the Vice-President.
In July 2002, Atiku led a Nigerian government delegation to China that included Adesanya and junior government officials. During that visit, Nigeria and a Chinese state-owned enterprise signed a memorandum covering several power projects, including the Mambilla Hydroelectric Project, then estimated at $4.5 billion for 2,600MW.
The tribunal subsequently concluded that Atiku had “a considerable degree of power and influence” in the Nigerian Government during the first half of 2003.
Against that background, the timing of the $500,000 payment attracted particular scrutiny.
The payment was made on January 30, 2003. Less than four months later, on May 22, 2003, then Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, purportedly awarded Sunrise a BOT contract for the Mambilla Project.
The tribunal described the sequence as raising “significant red flags” concerning the alleged payment, the possible use of Atiku’s influence and the subsequent contract.
But it stopped short of finding that Atiku actually used his office to secure the contract for Sunrise.
The tribunal specifically stated that there was no evidence before it establishing that Atiku had actually exercised his official duties in a manner that fostered the award of the contract to Sunrise.
It nevertheless said that, because there was no evidence establishing that the $500,000 was a bona fide foreign-exchange transaction, it could not exclude the possibility that the payment was related to Atiku’s leading role in the Nigerian Government in relation to the Mambilla Project.
The tribunal’s scrutiny did not stop with the payment involving Atiku.
It also examined three payments made by Adesanya to Olu Agunloye, who was Minister of Power and Steel when the controversial Mambilla award was purportedly made.
The payments, made through Adesanya’s assistant, Jide Sotinrin, totalled N5.221 million: N3.6 million on August 10, 2019; N500,000 on October 22, 2019; and N1.121 million on November 13, 2019.
Sunrise and Adesanya said the money was intended to assist Agunloye with medical treatment. The tribunal, however, identified inconsistencies in the explanations offered by Adesanya and Agunloye and said there was insufficient independent evidence supporting the medical-expenses explanation.
The payments were also made while the earlier arbitration over the validity of the alleged 2003 Mambilla award was active, with Agunloye potentially capable of providing evidence relevant to the dispute.
The tribunal said the circumstances created “significant red flags” concerning both the payments to Agunloye and their possible connection to his role in the Mambilla dispute.
Yet, again, the tribunal drew an important distinction: it found insufficient evidence to establish a concrete causal link between the 2019 payments and Agunloye’s purported 2003 award of the contract.
One of the most striking aspects of the award concerns what happened immediately before Agunloye’s purported award.
The tribunal found that President Olusegun Obasanjo had directed Agunloye in April 2003 to present the Mambilla proposal to the Federal Executive Council for consideration.
Agunloye subsequently submitted a memorandum seeking FEC approval for a BOT arrangement involving Sunrise and its Chinese partners.
At its May 21, 2003 meeting, however, the FEC resolved that Agunloye’s memorandum should be withdrawn and directed him to invite more proposals and explore different investment options, including varying levels of government participation.
The tribunal said there was nothing in the FEC minutes indicating presidential approval of the award to Sunrise.
Despite that, Agunloye wrote to Sunrise the following day, May 22, purporting to convey government approval for construction of the 3,960MW Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station at a provisional cost of $6 billion.
The tribunal said it failed to see the basis on which Agunloye proceeded in that manner, particularly given the clarity of the President’s instructions and the FEC resolution.
It further noted Sunrise’s lack of hydroelectric expertise and experience.
The tribunal did not, however, make a final finding on whether Agunloye’s 2003 letter constituted a valid award of the BOT contract. Instead, it said the evidence did not establish even on a prima facie basis that Agunloye had validly awarded the Mambilla BOT contract to Sunrise.
The later Minister of Power, Liyel Imoke, also wrote to Sunrise in September 2003 stating that the Federal Executive Council had not approved the memorandum recommending Sunrise for the project.
