- Demands openness, transparency in oil accounts
- Says President must tell Nigerians those financing his campaign
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of using the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL)’s secretive ₦11.2 trillion financial records to covertly bankroll his upcoming re-election campaign.
Consequently, he is demanding a full and transparent account of the amount recorded as being owed to NNPCL by the Federation for advances and costs that include protecting Nigeria’s oil and gas assets.
In a scathing statement issued at the weekend, the ADC Standard bearer further alleged that the state oil firm’s opaque accounting system is serving as a multi-trillion Naira slush fund for the ruling party’s political survival ahead of the 2027 general elections, insisting that Nigerians deserve to know how much of this enormous claim went to guarding pipelines, who received the money and what protection it bought.
The statement released by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, quoted Atiku as saying: “A mother should not have to pray her child survives the journey to school while her government cannot plainly explain the billions it spends on security. Tinubu must answer to the people living with these choices.”
“NNPC’s 2024 accounts recorded roughly ₦17.5 trillion across different claims on the Federation, including petrol under-recovery and other receivables linked to advances and asset protection.”
Further demanding that the President unmasks his campaign funders and open NNPC books for proper scrutiny, the opposition leader queried: “Its 2025 accounts now show approximately ₦11.2 trillion in other receivables from the Federation. Nigerians cannot tell from these totals what was spent on pipeline surveillance. What was paid? Who was paid? For what work? Where are the results?”
The ADC presidential candidate, who maintained that, “The scale of this imbalance is indefensible”, said: “In 2025, the Ministry of Defence received about ₦3.1 trillion, while NNPC recorded ₦11.2 trillion in other receivables from the Federation, more than three times the defence allocation. These figures belong to different accounting categories, but their contrast is stark: under Tinubu, sums tied to the oil sector dwarf the resources allocated to defend the country. That is a damning measure of this administration’s priorities.
“Think of the soldier sent to confront terrorists. Think of the parent waiting outside a school after hearing that bandits have struck. Think of the family unable to reach a loved one on the highway. They deserve more than one vast figure in NNPC’s accounts. Why can this government explain the need to protect a pipeline, but struggle to assure Nigerians that their own lives will be protected?”
While insisting that the need for answers extends beyond NNPC’s accounts to the relationship between government contractors and Tinubu’s re-election efforts, the former Vice President said: “Look at the company Tinubu keeps. Tantita holds a pipeline security contract while its founder sends campaign vehicles out to seek another term for the President. The Chagourys’ company holds the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway contract, awarded without an open public tender. Tinubu’s government says it used restricted bidding. Then show us the invitations. Show us the competing bids. Show us the evaluation. Show us the contract. Why must Nigerians drag every document out of a government spending their money?
“And what are Nigerians to make of footage showing the Minister of Works greeting a Chagoury as ‘my chairman’? A minister’s chairman should be the Nigerian people. Tinubu must disclose what these contractors have received from the government and whether they have given a naira, a vehicle or any other support to his re-election. Nigerians will not tighten their belts while the President’s associates collect contracts and the money behind his campaign remains hidden.”
Also taunting the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration for requesting hungry Nigerian families to continue making sacrifices, Atiku said a government who seeks the understanding and cooperation of the citizens on such arrangement must be ready and willing to account for every Naira it claims on the public purse.
According to him, “The roads are bad. The economy is bad. There is no light. There is no safety. Families are hungry. Yet Tinubu calls this progress. Nigerians are struggling to buy food, praying for electricity and afraid to travel. Nigerians have had enough of hardship dressed up as reform. Tinubu made life expensive. I will make Nigeria affordable again. Let this be the last year he asks Nigerians to suffer and applaud. In 2027, we will bring this chapter to an end.”
In delivering a scathing critique of the administration, Atiku blasted President Tinubu for showing a flagrant lack of empathy toward Nigerians enduring a brutal economic downturn, noting that rather than addressing the nation’s worsening socioeconomic conditions upon his return from a month-long European “working vacation,” the President instead mused, “I enjoyed myself. Fantastic.”
The former Vice President lamented that rather than empathise with Nigerians, the President made tone-deaf remarks which once again exposed his yawning distance from the existential realities Nigerians face, especially by using his care-free ”Ready to kick, ready to walk.’ delivery to brush off health concerns raised with him.
