Nigeria: Special Report - Inside Five International Corruption Cases Involving Atiku, Ex-Wife

Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president of Nigeria, is currently embroiled in five international corruption cases involving his ex-wife, Jennifer Douglas. The allegations center around suspicious financial transactions involving offshore companies and bribery. In a recent arbitration tribunal held in Paris, Atiku was named in the final award regarding the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project contract.

The tribunal found that a payment of $500,000 made by Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited, was made from an offshore Swiss bank account to a US bank account belonging to Jennifer Douglas. Atiku and Douglas, a dual US-Nigerian citizen, have been linked to numerous suspicious financial transactions over the years, particularly in the United States.

The former vice president and Douglas divorced in 2021, having been married since 2003. Documents reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES revealed that Douglas opened more than 30 US bank accounts in her name and names of various family trusts, as well as in the name of the American University of Nigeria (AUN). The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found that Douglas lived in a luxury home in Maryland and repeatedly lied to banks about her husband transferring millions of dollars to her through offshore companies despite listing her occupations as student, homemaker, or unemployed.

The Mambilla case is the fifth instance in which Atiku and Douglas have faced corruption allegations. Prior to this, Atiku was implicated in the Siemens bribery scandal, where it was alleged that Siemens paid bribes to Nigerian government officials to secure telecommunications contracts during Obasanjo's administration.