Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of either being complicit in or completely unaware of alleged budget manipulations and the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal, saying the administration’s handling of the matter has deepened public distrust.

In a statement issued Monday, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate said attempts by the Presidency to “rescue” Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, have only attracted more scrutiny.

Atiku alleged that the 2026 Appropriation Act contains billions of naira inserted for road projects under the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education — an agency with no mandate for road construction.

Citing page 2236 of the budget, he said about ₦1.4 billion was allocated for the rehabilitation and construction of Obasanjo-Itele Road, Nazareth Road Oke Ola, Imeko, Idogo Township Road and Odedeyo-Mewuro Road.

Another ₦1.4 billion was budgeted for Eyini High School to Lusada Junction Road, Ibooro, Idiya Central Community Road, Roundabout Abeokuta, Ile Ise Community Asuje Road and Soyote Community Road.

He added that ₦1.05 billion was set aside for Pakuj-Yporan Township Road in Ipokia Ward 2, and another ₦1.05 billion for RCC Opposite Honda Agbebi Community Road and Ajuwon Baale Road.

“Since when did the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education become a road construction agency?” Atiku asked.

He described the move as “a cruel betrayal” of the over 20 million out-of-school children the Commission was set up to serve, and accused administration officials of hiding questionable projects “in backwater agencies where public scrutiny is minimal and where funds can be more easily diverted.”

“This is the height of irresponsibility. It is the height of impunity. Indeed, it is the height of evil,” he said.

Atiku said this is not the first instance. He recalled allegations that in the 2023 budget, funds meant for the Federal College of Education, Umunze, Anambra State, were allegedly used for constituency projects.

“The latest revelations, therefore, cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident or a mere administrative error. They fit into an already discernible pattern of budget padding, insertions and diversions that have become a defining feature of governance under this administration,” he stated.

The former VP also referenced claims by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, DG of the “supposed non-existent” Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.

Adeyemi alleged that Gbajabiamila demanded billions, including an upfront ₦400 million and nearly half of the agency’s proposed ₦27.4 billion take-off grant — about ₦12.5 billion — as a condition for his appointment.

Atiku faulted the Presidency for dismissing the claims with “press statements and political sophistry.”

“If Prince Adeyemi is indeed the fraudster that government spokespersons now portray him to be, why has he not been arraigned before a competent court of law since he was first invited for questioning late last year? Why is the organisation he runs reportedly still operating from the Federal Secretariat? How was he able to pay a courtesy visit to the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission while supposedly under investigation?”

He said the scandal is “assuming proportions even more troubling than the Abdulrasheed Maina affair,” noting that in the Maina case, arrests and prosecutions followed swiftly.

Atiku said President Tinubu “cannot claim ignorance,” stressing that the budget bears his signature and the agencies operate under his administration.

“If billions of naira can be hidden under agencies with no legal mandate to execute such projects, then either the President approved these distortions or he was completely unaware of what was happening under his watch.

“The first possibility would amount to complicity. The second would amount to an admission of an absentee presidency, in which consequential decisions are taken without the President’s knowledge or supervision. Neither possibility is flattering.”

He also faulted the National Assembly, saying it failed in its duty as “watchdog of the public purse” and instead allowed “obvious irregularities sail through the appropriation process without interrogation.”

“Expecting this administration to wage a sincere war against corruption increasingly appears like expecting the sun to rise in the west and set in the east. It is a distant impossibility,” Atiku said.

“The Nigerian people deserve answers, and this administration owes them nothing less than a full, transparent and independent investigation into these troubling revelations.” (TRIBUNE)