Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Saturday accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of operating an alleged ₦8.8 trillion “shadow budget” outside Nigeria’s official appropriation process, citing findings in the latest International Monetary Fund Article IV consultation.
In a statement, Atiku said he was alarmed by a Reuters report published July 1, 2026, which quoted the IMF as saying public expenditures equivalent to about 2 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product were not captured in recent official budgets.
“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 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in recent official budgets,” he said.
According to Atiku, with Nigeria’s economy valued at about ₦441.5 trillion, the 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 “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history,” the ADC presidential candidate called on Nigerians, the media, civil society groups, the National Assembly and other democratic institutions to demand accountability.
Citing the IMF’s Article IV consultation and its resident representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, Atiku alleged the discrepancy stemmed from large-scale government projects executed outside the budgetary framework.
“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,” he said. “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 the practice mirrors what he called the “Alpha Beta arrangement” during Tinubu’s tenure as governor of Lagos State, claiming the same model had now been replicated at the federal level.
He also accused the Federal Government of unlawfully deducting ₦800 billion from statutory allocations due to state governments.
“We state clearly and without equivocation that this ₦800 billion, combined with the ₦8.8 trillion in unrecorded federal expenditures, points unmistakably to the construction of a massive, multi-source political war chest being assembled ahead of the 2027 general elections,” he alleged.
The former vice president linked the controversy surrounding the ₦1.3 billion allocation for the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council in the 2026 budget to what he described as a broader pattern of fiscal opacity.
He argued that while Nigerians had endured hardship from subsidy removal, naira depreciation and high interest rates, the IMF findings showed trillions of naira had been spent outside public scrutiny.
“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,” Atiku said.
He said the funds, if transparently appropriated, could have supported economic recovery, strengthened the naira and created jobs.
Atiku demanded six actions: emergency investigative hearings by the National Assembly, a full independent audit by the Auditor-General of the Federation, public disclosure of all off-budget expenditures, restoration of the alleged ₦800 billion deducted from state allocations, investigations by anti-corruption agencies, and greater engagement by civil society and international institutions.
“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 evidence is on the record. The figures are not in dispute.”
The Presidency is yet to respond to Atiku’s allegations as of the time of filing this report.