President Bola Tinubu and former VP Atiku Abubakar
All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly rejected allegations by former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, that the Service-Wide Vote (SWV) in the 2026 federal budget was designed to finance President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, described the allegation as “highly mischievous” and accused Atiku of either misunderstanding the fundamentals of public finance or deliberately attempting to mislead Nigerians.
According to Morka, Atiku failed to provide any evidence to support the allegation and instead relied on what he called speculation intended to distract Nigerians from the achievements of the Tinubu administration.
He stated, “Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has become more disoriented and misguided than ever before in the history of his failed serial presidential bid. His recent allegation that the 2026 budgetary Service-Wide Vote (SWV) was set aside to fund President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 reelection campaign is either highly mischievous or shows disturbing ignorance of basic principles of public finance.”
The APC spokesman further argued that the Service-Wide Vote is a long-established budgetary instrument used to meet government-wide obligations and unforeseen expenditures after the passage of the annual budget.
Explaining its purpose, Morka said, “A Service-Wide Vote is a long-established and widely used budgetary mechanism designed to cater for government-wide obligations and unforeseen expenditures that arise after the annual budget has been passed. Similar contingency arrangements exist in virtually all major economies and democracies of the world. A Service-Wide Vote is not a secret fund or an illegal slush account, as Atiku has baselessly and recklessly alleged.”
Morka also launched a personal attack on the former vice president, accusing him of attempting to project his past onto others.
“The ghost of his sordid past haunts Atiku. Ironically, a man whose reputation as a public servant is mired in some of Nigeria’s darkest episodes of mindless corruption and profligacy attempts to smear a high-achieving administration and lecture Nigerians on matters of fiscal responsibility and budgetary transparency. Atiku is only seeking to ascribe to others out of the overflowing store of misdeeds in his long and wasteful years in government,” he said.
The APC maintained that Atiku had consistently failed to present a convincing development agenda for the country, alleging that he had instead resorted to spreading misinformation.
Morka said, “As a serial presidential contestant, Atiku has never once articulated a clear vision or coherent plan for Nigeria’s development but has remained a petty peddler of fake news and doomsday narratives. Spewing baseless and inflammatory allegations without justification is utterly irresponsible and unbecoming of a former Vice President.”
Defending the Tinubu administration’s economic policies, the APC highlighted several government programmes, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), the implementation of the new national minimum wage, the Consumer Credit Scheme, the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, infrastructure development, healthcare investments, agricultural support, and ongoing tax reforms.
The ruling party said these initiatives demonstrate prudent management of public resources and reflect the administration’s commitment to improving the welfare of Nigerians.
Reaffirming the government’s priorities, Morka said the APC remained committed to implementing the Renewed Hope Agenda through economic reforms, infrastructure expansion, institutional strengthening and policies aimed at improving the living standards of citizens.
