Tinubu prioritises 2027 over governance, says ADC

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Thursday accused President Bola Tinubu of putting his 2027 re-election ahead of governance, alleging widespread budget failures, policy reversals, and worsening insecurity under his administration.

The opposition party said the federal government is currently running three national budgets at the same time while struggling to implement them, describing the situation as unprecedented and deeply troubling.

It argued that key sectors such as power, communications, education, and health remain underfunded, even as the government claims record revenue and increased foreign reserves.

The position was contained in a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, in Abuja.

“The ADC has noted recent reports that signify utter confusion and a historic level of incompetence in the Tinubu administration’s implementation of national budgets since 2024. This is the first time in Nigerian history that any government would be running three budgets at the same time while implementing none,” Abdullahi said.

According to him, although the 2024 budget was rolled over into 2025, only 17.7 per cent of the capital component had been released as of the third quarter of 2025, with overall implementation below 30 per cent, even as internal disbursements continued to lag.

The party noted that the government has argued that the arrangement is a “deliberate strategy” and a “transition cost” meant to ensure that multi-year capital projects are completed.

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“This is a blatant falsehood that cannot hold up to any scrutiny,” the ADC said.

The party further claimed that 30 per cent of the 2025 budget is billed to run from February 2026 to November 30, 2026, while the remaining 70 per cent would be rolled over into the 2026 budget, which it noted is still being debated at the National Assembly three months into the year. It recalled that President Tinubu had promised that all capital components of the 2024 and 2025 budgets would be concluded by March 31, 2026.

As sectoral examples, the ADC said capital budget implementation for the Ministry of Power stands at 3.6 per cent, Communications Technology at 8.9 per cent, Education at 23.5 per cent, and Health at 32.5 per cent.

“Certainly, no serious government would leave these sectors, which are crucial to national human capital development, largely unfunded while select government officials continue to live in obscene opulence in the midst of unprecedented poverty and human misery,” the party stated.

It noted that the only ministry said to have exceeded its budget performance, at 113.45 per cent, was the Ministry of Defence, largely due to emergency funding through the Service-Wide Vote. Yet, it argued, insecurity has continued to spread.

“Recent reports indicate that in this month of Ramadan alone, up to 500 Nigerians may have been killed by terrorists in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and Kebbi,” the ADC added.

The party also questioned the administration’s claims of historic revenue collection and improved foreign reserve balances, alleging that the government has borrowed more aggressively than any previous administration while contractors remain unpaid and projects stalled.

“This is the reason Nigerians are suffering like never before and asking the most important questions: what is this government doing with all the money that accrues from all the loans, all the revenues, and all the increased taxes? Why are we worse off today than we were three years ago?”

“The Tinubu government has proven that to them everything is about politics and power for its own sake,” the ADC said, adding that Nigeria continues to grapple with deepening poverty and insecurity.