Former Vice President of Nigeria and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has alleged that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration concealed a fresh N12.8 trillion allocation in Nigeria’s 2026 budget.
Atiku made the allegation in a statement released on Monday by his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu.
He said the N12.8 trillion was hidden under the Service-Wide Vote (SWV) in the 2026 budget.
The former vice president described the 2026 Federal Budget as the biggest attack on transparency and fiscal responsibility in Nigeria’s democratic history, following what he called disturbing findings about the Service-Wide Vote allocation.
According to him, 84 per cent of the entire 2026 budget is concentrated in just 10 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while N12.8 trillion is kept under the Service-Wide Vote in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
He said the figures suggest what appears to be a deliberate system for opaque and unaccountable spending under President Tinubu’s administration.
Atiku also pointed out that the Service-Wide Vote increased from N638 billion in the 2025 budget to N12.8 trillion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, representing about a 1,918 per cent rise within one year.
“President Tinubu owes Nigerians a detailed explanation. No responsible government can expect citizens to accept a nineteen-fold increase in a notoriously opaque budgetary provision without disclosing exactly who will spend the money, what it will be spent on, and under what legal authority,” Atiku said.
“Should the Tinubu administration fail to come clean on this unprecedented N12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote, Nigerians would be justified in suspecting that these enormous sums are being stashed away to bankroll the APC’s political machinery and President Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027. A government with nothing to hide does not conceal trillions behind opaque budgetary headings,” he added.
