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2026-07-26 12:55 UTC → 2026-07-26 19:52 UTC ·
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Atiku‑Tinubu dispute intensifies ahead of 2027 election deepens over oil windfall borrowing
On 2 July 2026 former Former vice‑president Atiku Abubakar praised a July 2 Federal High Court ruling that dismissed dismissing a suit over the African Democratic Congress’s ADC leadership and called for an independent probe into an IMF‑reported discrepancy suggesting Nigeria omitted public spending equal to of about 2 % of GDP. By 25 late July 2026 Atiku broadened his he expanded criticism, denouncing President Bola Tinubu’s reference to China’s legal system in a domestic dispute and arguing that invoking Chinese drug‑law legal standards distracts from Nigeria’s pressing problems. He also highlighted a recent U.S. civil forfeiture linked to alleged drug‑money laundering, insisting no criminal convictions have been brought against him. Later that day his campaign accused Tinubu of corruption and drug‑related wrongdoing and claimed former President Olusegun Obasanjo was fabricating allegations to aid political rivals. APC figures warned Atiku could not be trusted with the nation’s treasury, while a U.S. lobbying firm linked to Atiku pressed for the release of U.S. records on Tinubu’s alleged 1993 heroin‑trafficking case. In the evening Atiku added that alleging Tinubu’s administration was is borrowing heavily despite an estimated N7.98 trillion (≈ $5.76 billion) oil‑revenue windfall. Atiku said the government had already raised roughly N5 trillion from domestic bonds in the first half of 2026—about 80 % of the total borrowing in the same period a year earlier—and questioned why debt issuance continued when oil windfall, questioning earnings far exceeded the lack 2026 Appropriation Act benchmark of transparency around $64.84 per barrel (Brent averaged $92). Atiku also highlighted parallel lobbying efforts: Tinubu’s government reportedly paid about $9 million for a security‑focused U.S. lobbying contract, while the excess revenue. He disclosed that his campaign ADC hired a U.S. lobbying firm for about $1.2 million, a move Tinubu’s spokesperson condemned as “offshoring political warfare” million to influence American officials and a threat Congress. He linked these moves to Nigeria’s sovereignty. The lobbying effort seeks the release a broader pattern of the same U.S. records, reinforcing the dispute over alleged corruption, economic mismanagement corruption and foreign influence ahead of influence, and warned that the 2027 election. administration’s selective focus on kidnapping victims in states such as Kwara and Zamfara obscures deeper security challenges facing millions of Nigerians.