APC’s Panic Over ₦12.8trn ‘Slush Fund’ Exposes Guilty Conscience — Atiku Media Office

The Media Office of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of failing to address concerns over the ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote (SWV) contained in the 2026 Appropriation Act, insisting that the ruling party’s reaction reflects a “guilty conscience.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday by Atiku’s Strategic Media Associate, Olusola Sanni, the former vice president’s camp said the APC’s response, delivered by its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, was filled with personal attacks rather than answers to what it described as serious questions about public spending.

“The attention of the Media Office of former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has been drawn to the emotionally charged but intellectually bankrupt response by the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, over our exposure of the unprecedented ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote (SWV) contained in the 2026 Appropriation Act,” the statement read.

The media office said that, while it would ordinarily have ignored Morka’s comments, Nigerians deserved an explanation of the controversial budgetary provision.

“Ordinarily, we would have ignored Mr Morka’s descent into insults. However, when a ruling party confronted with legitimate questions about a ₦12.8 trillion public expenditure abandons facts for abuse, Nigerians deserve to know why.”

Atiku’s camp argued that the APC failed to answer what it described as the central issue—why the Service-Wide Vote rose from ₦638.34 billion in 2024 to ₦12.8 trillion in the 2026 budget.

“It is remarkable that in his lengthy treatise, Mr Morka failed to answer the central question: What emergency or unforeseen expenditure justifies increasing the Service-Wide Vote from ₦638.34 billion in 2024 to over ₦12.8 trillion in 2026? That is an increase of approximately 1,918 per cent in barely two years. Such an astronomical leap cannot be dismissed with the lazy excuse that a Service-Wide Vote is merely a ‘contingency arrangement.’”

The statement clarified that it was not questioning the legality of the Service-Wide Vote but rather its size and transparency under the Tinubu administration.

“No one disputes the existence of a Service-Wide Vote as a recognised budgetary instrument. What Nigerians are questioning is the size, opacity, and abuse of the provision under the Tinubu administration.”

According to the statement, if the APC believes there is nothing unusual about the allocation, it should explain why it has expanded to an amount that rivals the budgets of key sectors.

“If the APC truly believes there is nothing unusual about this allocation, it should explain why an envelope that stood at ₦638.34 billion has suddenly ballooned to ₦12.8 trillion—an amount that rivals the combined budgets of critical sectors such as defence, education, healthcare and works.”

The media office further alleged that significant portions of the allocation lacked clear descriptions, raising concerns over accountability.

“Even more disturbing is the fact that substantial portions of this allocation are tied to projects that are either vaguely described or not described at all. A contingency fund without specificity, accountability or transparency ceases to be a contingency provision and becomes precisely what Nigerians fear—a slush fund waiting to be abused.”

The statement accused the APC of resorting to political attacks instead of addressing public concerns.

“Rather than answer these fundamental questions, Mr Morka resorted to his party’s familiar playbook of character assassination. Nigerians are not interested in political insults. They want answers.”

It also claimed that previous budget controversies had weakened public confidence in the federal government’s fiscal transparency.

“The APC spokesman also conveniently ignored the fact that this administration has been serially embarrassed by revelations of duplicated budget provisions, opaque religious project allocations, unnamed palace renovations and other questionable appropriations that have steadily eroded public confidence in the integrity of the federal budget. Against this backdrop, asking legitimate questions about a ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote is not only reasonable; it is a patriotic duty.”

The media office insisted that criticism could not replace accountability.

“The APC may continue to hurl insults, but insults cannot substitute for accountability. Calling names will not explain a 1,918 per cent increase. Abuse will not identify the projects. Propaganda will not account for trillions of taxpayers’ money.”

It called on the Tinubu administration to publish a detailed breakdown of the allocation.

“We therefore restate our demand that the Tinubu administration publish a comprehensive breakdown of the ₦12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote, clearly identifying every project, beneficiary, implementing agency and legal basis for each expenditure.

“Until that is done, Nigerians are entitled to conclude that the APC’s anger stems not from the weakness of our questions, but from its inability to answer them,” the statement added.