Atiku accuses Tinubu of running ₦8.8tn ‘shadow budget’, demands probe
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of operating a massive off-budget expenditure system, citing a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report as evidence of what he described as an unprecedented case of fiscal opacity.
In a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja, Atiku said an IMF report published by Reuters on July 1, 2026, indicated that the Federal Government failed to record public spending equivalent to about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in recent budgets.
According to him, with Nigeria’s economy valued at about ₦441.5 trillion, the unrecorded expenditure amounts to approximately ₦8.8 trillion.
“My attention has been drawn to a deeply troubling report by the International Monetary Fund, published on July 1, 2026 by Reuters, which reveals that the Tinubu-led APC administration failed to record public expenditures amounting to approximately 2 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in recent official budgets,” Atiku said.
“At the current valuation of Nigeria’s economy at approximately ₦441.5 trillion, this figure translates to a staggering ₦8.8 trillion in public funds spent entirely outside the statutory framework of Nigeria’s official budget documents, unaccounted for, unaudited, and hidden from the Nigerian people.”
Describing the development as alarming, Atiku called on Nigerians, the media, civil society organisations, the National Assembly and other democratic institutions to prioritise the issue.
“I view this revelation with the gravest alarm and call upon all Nigerians – the media, civil society, the National Assembly, and every democratic institution in this country – to set aside every distraction and direct their full attention to what is, by any reasonable standard, the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history,” he said.
The former vice president argued that the alleged discrepancy was not an isolated occurrence but part of a broader pattern.
He said, “The IMF’s latest Article IV consultation, articulated by its resident representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, confirmed that this staggering discrepancy arises from large-scale government projects executed entirely off-budget.
“Let us be absolutely clear about what this means: The Tinubu administration is awarding multi-trillion naira contracts, moving massive public capital, and commissioning infrastructure projects entirely beyond the reach of the Auditor-General, the nation’s procurement laws, and the legitimate oversight of the National Assembly. It is a parallel fiscal universe, one governed by executive whim, shielded from the constitutional accountability that the Nigerian people are owed.”
Atiku further alleged that the current situation mirrored what he described as the “Alpha Beta arrangement” during Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State.
“What the IMF has now documented at the federal level is that same Lagos playbook, replicated at national scale and with national consequences. The man who perfected the art of the off-budget economy in Lagos has brought that ‘Beta’ form to Abuja, and the price is being paid by 220 million Nigerians,” he said.
The ADC presidential candidate also alleged that the Federal Government unlawfully deducted ₦800 billion from statutory allocations due to state governments.
“We draw the attention of Nigerians to the ₦800 billion that has been illegally deducted from the statutory allocations of state governments, funds belonging to the federating units of this republic, unlawfully withheld and diverted without the authorisation of the National Assembly, without a court order, and without any constitutional basis whatsoever,” he said.
Atiku claimed the alleged ₦800 billion deduction and the ₦8.8 trillion in unrecorded expenditure pointed to “the construction of a massive, multi-source political war chest being assembled ahead of the 2027 general elections.”
“When a government operates a secret treasury of this scale at precisely the moment it needs to purchase electoral outcomes, the conclusion is not difficult to reach. The Tinubu administration is not reforming Nigeria’s economy. It is financing its own political survival with money that belongs to the Nigerian people,” he said.
Atiku also linked the alleged off-budget spending to the recent controversy over the ₦1.3 billion allocation for the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an agency whose existence the government later questioned.
“The ghost agency and the shadow budget are not separate scandals. They are two expressions of the same governing philosophy: that public money belongs to those in power, to be deployed as they see fit, beyond the reach of the law and the knowledge of the public,” he said.
He criticised the administration’s economic policies, saying Nigerians had endured years of hardship while being told government finances were under pressure.
“The IMF has now exposed that narrative as a big fat lie.
“While the poor were told to bleed, the government maintained access to a ₦8.8 trillion shadow treasury, entirely outside public view, entirely beyond legislative oversight, and entirely at the disposal of those who hold executive power,” said Atiku.
According to him, transparent deployment of the funds could have stimulated the economy, reduced borrowing costs and created employment.
“I wish to place this figure in concrete human terms. In the 2023 presidential election, I presented to Nigerians a comprehensive economic recovery programme anchored on a $10 billion stimulus package.
“The IMF has now answered that question. ₦8.8 trillion, the equivalent of approximately $5.5 billion at current exchange rates, was available. It was not unavailable. It was not non-existent. It was simply being spent in the dark, by unaccountable hands, on undisclosed purposes, beyond the reach of the Nigerian public and their elected representatives,” he said.
The former number two citizen added, “The poverty of Nigerian citizens today is not fate. It is policy, or more precisely, it is the consequence of the absence of transparent, accountable, productive economic policy, replaced by the private management of public resources for political purposes under the Tinubu-led APC administration.”
Atiku demanded six immediate actions, including emergency investigative hearings by the National Assembly, a comprehensive audit by the Auditor-General of the Federation, full disclosure of all off-budget expenditures, the refund of the alleged ₦800 billion deducted from state allocations, investigations by anti-corruption agencies, and intervention by civil society and the international community.
“The revelation of ₦8.8 trillion in unrecorded public expenditures is a constitutional emergency, not a matter to be managed through ministerial press conferences or diplomatic qualifications,” he said.
Concluding the statement, the former vice president insisted that the allegations required urgent accountability.
“A government that governs in secret spends in secret. A government that spends in secret does not govern, it plunders,” he said.
“The Tinubu administration has been exposed, not by its political opponents and not by partisan advocacy, but by the International Monetary Fund, the most authoritative multilateral financial institution in the world, whose Article IV consultations carry the full weight of international economic credibility. The evidence is on the record. The figures are not in dispute.”
He added: “We will not accept it. And we call on every Nigerian who believes in the integrity of the public treasury, the sovereignty of the Nigerian people over their own resources, and the future of this republic to refuse to accept it as well.”
