The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has expressed grave concern over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of the cancellation of legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to the Federation Account, describing the move as unconstitutional and injurious to states and local governments.
In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party said the presidential action approved the cancellation of longstanding obligations previously reported as outstanding, including debts arising from production sharing contracts, domestic supply obligations, royalty receivables and other legacy balances.
According to the ADC, official documents presented to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revealed that President Tinubu approved the removal of approximately $1.42 billion and ₦5.57 trillion in legacy NNPC debts from the Federation Account books following a reconciliation of records with regulators. The directive, the party noted, covers outstanding liabilities accumulated up to December 31, 2024.
The party said it was particularly disturbed that an overwhelming proportion of the debts were written off through executive action alone.
“The ADC is especially concerned that nearly 96 percent of the dollar-denominated legacy obligations and 88 percent of the naira-denominated legacy balances were written off by executive directive, without legislative or parliamentary approval or clear constitutional authority,” Abdullahi stated.
The ADC rejected the justification of reconciliation cited for the action, arguing that it cannot override constitutional provisions governing public revenue.
“This purported justification of ‘reconciliation’ cannot lawfully override the constitutional requirements for revenue sharing. The action effectively removes longstanding liabilities from public accounts, but at the cost of reducing the revenue base constitutionally distributable to States and Local Governments,” the party said.
Emphasising constitutional supremacy, the ADC stressed that executive powers have clear limits under the law.
“It is important to emphasise that executive action cannot override the Constitution. Under Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), all revenues due to the Federation, including oil sector receipts and related obligations, must be paid into the Federation Account and shared among the Federal, State, and Local Governments,” Abdullahi said.
The party further argued that the Federation Account is beyond presidential discretion.
“The Federation Account is not subject to executive discretion. No President, including this one, has the unilateral authority to cancel constitutionally due revenues, and any cancellation that reduces revenue due to the States and Local Governments without legislative authority is unconstitutional,” the statement read.
The ADC accused President Tinubu of serial constitutional violations and raised concerns over the role of the National Assembly.
“We have said it before, and we will say it again, President Tinubu has repeatedly violated the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Even more worrying, however, is what appears to be active collusion or wilful surrender by the National Assembly. Ordinarily, these egregious assaults on the Constitution should be sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings,” Abdullahi declared.
Reaffirming its stance on constitutionalism, the party warned against governance by executive fiat.
“As a nation of laws, and not of men, no President can override what the Constitution protects. The Federation Account belongs to all tiers of government and cannot be subject to the discretion of the Federal Executive or the President,” the ADC concluded.
