Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the All Progressives Congress and its state governors of diverting public funds into accounts allegedly earmarked for President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign, a charge the African Democratic Congress described as shameless, cruel, and criminal at a time when millions of Nigerians were sinking deeper into poverty.
In a statement issued through his media aide Paul Ibe, Atiku alleged that funds that should have been deployed for governance and public welfare were being redirected into dedicated political accounts, worsening the economic hardship and insecurity confronting ordinary citizens. He suggested that disagreements within the Progressive Governors Forum were linked to disputes over access to and management of the allegedly diverted funds.
The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi, said reports alleging that over N800 billion had been raised through deductions from Federation Account Allocation Committee allocations for political purposes confirmed what Nigerians had long suspected. The party said it was morally indefensible that states receiving record allocations were unable to improve living conditions while allegedly diverting public money to fund a re-election campaign.
ActionAid Nigeria joined the criticism, with Country Director Andrew Mamedu calling for the impeachment of any governor found guilty of using state resources to fund political campaigns, describing the reports as disturbing and unacceptable given the scale of economic hardship, rising inflation, insecurity, and unemployment confronting the country.
The APC Governors Forum had previously denied reports of any internal crisis, and no formal anti-corruption investigation had been announced in connection with the allegations.
Atiku also used the occasion to mourn former federal lawmaker Abba Adamu, who died in bandit captivity after being abducted on the Kaduna-Abuja highway on May 3, describing his death as a damning indictment of a government that had failed its most sacred constitutional duty of protecting life and property, and warning that insecurity had evolved under the current administration from a crisis into a cruel national routine.
