The Media Office of African Democratic Congress, ADC, presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC, of failing to explain the reported N12.8 trillion Service Wide Vote contained in the 2026 Appropriation Act, describing the ruling party’s response as evidence of a “guilty conscience.”
The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by Atiku’s Strategic Media Associate, Olusola Sanni.
The statement was a response to comments by APC National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, who defended the Service Wide Vote and dismissed Atiku’s criticism.
According to the Atiku Media Office, the APC ignored what it described as legitimate concerns over the sharp increase in the Service Wide Vote and instead resorted to personal attacks.
The media office questioned the rationale behind increasing the allocation from N638.34 billion in the 2024 budget to more than N12.8 trillion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, describing it as an increase of about 1,918 percent within two years.
“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?” the statement said.
While acknowledging that the Service Wide Vote is a recognised budgetary provision, the Atiku camp argued that Nigerians deserve a clear explanation regarding the size, transparency and management of the allocation.
It maintained that if the allocation was justified, the Federal Government should explain why the provision had risen to an amount it claimed rivals the combined budgets of critical sectors including defence, education, healthcare and works.
The statement further alleged that several items listed under the allocation were either vaguely described or lacked adequate details, raising concerns over transparency and 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 added.
The Atiku Media Office also accused the APC of avoiding fundamental questions by responding with insults instead of addressing the issues raised.
It further claimed that the Tinubu administration had previously faced public scrutiny over alleged duplicated budget provisions, religious project allocations and other controversial appropriations, insisting that concerns surrounding the Service Wide Vote were justified.
The Atiku camp called on the Federal Government to publish a detailed breakdown of the N12.8 trillion Service Wide Vote, including the projects, beneficiaries, implementing agencies and the legal basis for each expenditure.
According to the media office, full disclosure is necessary to reassure Nigerians that public funds are being managed transparently and responsibly.
