Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has lambasted President Bola Tinubu for allegedly allocating N22.15 billion in the 2026 budget for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces across Nigeria.

Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the appropriation as a constitutional aberration. He stated that it exposes yet another attempt to allegedly turn the “national budget into an instrument for illegality and official corruption.”

The former Vice President noted that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is clear on the distribution of governmental responsibilities and does not confer on the Federal Government the responsibility of constructing or renovating palaces belonging to traditional institutions.

Atiku, who is also the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, said the alleged constitutional breach is compounded by the failure of the Federal Government to disclose the identities of the traditional rulers, the locations of the projects and the communities where the palaces are supposedly to be renovated.

According to him, “President Tinubu swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not to amend it through the Appropriation Act. Traditional institutions are matters within the constitutional competence of state and local governments. A federal budget cannot lawfully be used to assume responsibilities that the Constitution has assigned elsewhere. “Under which provision of the Constitution is the Federal Government appropriating N22.15 billion from the Federation Account for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces? Which Constitution is President Tinubu operating?

“The constitutional position is unmistakable. The 1999 Constitution did not establish, fund or assign any executive responsibility over traditional institutions to the Federal Government. Indeed, its only reference to traditional institutions is in the Third Schedule, Part II, where it merely permits states to establish a Council of Chiefs to advise the governors on chieftaincy and customary law matters.

“Beyond this limited advisory role, the Constitution leaves the creation, administration and funding of traditional institutions to state governments and the laws enacted by their respective Houses of Assembly. President Tinubu cannot, by the instrument of an Appropriation Act, assume powers that the Constitution deliberately withheld from the Federal Government.

“The government wants Nigerians to approve N22.15 billion for 106 palace projects, yet it cannot identify the beneficiaries or tell the nation where those palaces are located. Every road, school, hospital and constituency project in the national budget carries a location. Why are these projects hidden? That is not budgeting; it is writing a blank cheque for corruption.

“If these projects are genuine, publish the names of the palaces, the traditional rulers, their locations, the implementing agencies and the contractors. The refusal to do so leaves Nigerians with only one conclusion – that this may be another elaborate conduit for siphoning public funds.”

Atiku, while stating that a national budget is more than a financial statement, noted that the Appropriation Act is a moral and constitutional document that reflects the priorities of the government.

“The Nigerian people, not politically convenient projects, must remain the centrepiece of every national budget.

Unfortunately, under the Tinubu administration, fiscal appropriations appear to have elevated official corruption above public service. That explains why, despite trillions of Naira appropriated since 2023, Nigerians have seen a deteriorating decline in standard of living threshold. Hunger has deepened, inflation remains crushing, insecurity persists, industries are shutting down and purchasing power continues to decline,” he said.

The former Vice President, who stressed that the statement was not an attack on Nigeria’s revered traditional institutions, charged the Presidency, the Budget Office and all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies to immediately publish the complete list of the 106 palaces, their locations, the amounts allocated to each project, the constitutional basis for the expenditure, as well as the procurement process through which the contracts will be awarded.

“Our royal fathers deserve dignity and respect. They must not be used as unwilling instruments to legitimise opaque and constitutionally questionable budgetary allocations. If this administration truly respects the traditional institution, it should stop hiding behind it,” he stated. (The Sun News)

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