Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of operating a massive ₦8.8 trillion “shadow budget”, alleging that the latest report by the International Monetary Fund exposes what he described as a grand fiscal cover-up by the Federal Government.
In a strongly worded statement released on Friday, July 3, 2026, Atiku cited the IMF’s latest Article IV consultation, reported by Reuters on July 1, 2026, which indicated that government expenditures equivalent to about 2 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were not captured in recent official budgets.
According to the former vice president, the figure amounts to approximately ₦8.8 trillion spent outside the country’s statutory budget framework.
“My attention has been drawn to a deeply troubling report by the International Monetary Fund, published on July 1, 2026 by Reuters, which reveals that the Tinubu-led APC administration failed to record public expenditures amounting to approximately 2 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in recent official budgets.
“At the current valuation of Nigeria’s economy at approximately ₦441.5 trillion, this figure translates to a staggering ₦8.8 trillion in public funds spent entirely outside the statutory framework of Nigeria’s official budget documents, unaccounted for, unaudited, and hidden from the Nigerian people.”
Describing the IMF findings as evidence of what he called “the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history,” Atiku urged Nigerians, civil society organisations, the media, the National Assembly and other democratic institutions to demand accountability.
“I view this revelation with the gravest alarm and call upon all Nigerians, the media, civil society, the National Assembly, and every democratic institution in this country to set aside every distraction and direct their full attention to what is, by any reasonable standard, the most consequential act of fiscal impunity in Nigeria’s recent democratic history.”
Atiku alleged that the IMF report confirmed that the Tinubu administration had executed multi-trillion naira projects entirely outside the official budgetary process, thereby evading constitutional oversight and accountability.
“The Tinubu administration is awarding multi-trillion naira contracts, moving massive public capital, and commissioning infrastructure projects entirely beyond the reach of the Auditor-General, the nation’s procurement laws, and the legitimate oversight of the National Assembly.
“It is a parallel fiscal universe, one governed by executive whim, shielded from the constitutional accountability that the Nigerian people are owed.”
The former vice president further claimed that the alleged off-budget spending mirrored what he described as the fiscal model associated with Tinubu’s years as Governor of Lagos State.
“What the IMF has now documented at the federal level is that same Lagos playbook, replicated at national scale and with national consequences.
“The man who perfected the art of the off-budget economy in Lagos has brought that ‘Beta’ form to Abuja, and the price is being paid by 220 million Nigerians.”
Atiku also alleged that the Federal Government unlawfully deducted ₦800 billion from statutory allocations due to state governments, arguing that the combined funds pointed to the creation of a political war chest ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“We state clearly and without equivocation that this ₦800 billion, combined with the ₦8.8 trillion in unrecorded federal expenditures, points unmistakably to the construction of a massive, multi-source political war chest being assembled ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“The Tinubu administration is not reforming Nigeria’s economy. It is financing its own political survival with money that belongs to the Nigerian people.”
He further linked the IMF’s findings to the recent controversy surrounding the alleged ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Federal Budget for what he described as the “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council,” arguing that both reflected a pattern of financial opacity.
According to Atiku, while Nigerians have been subjected to economic hardship through fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation and rising interest rates, the government allegedly maintained access to a hidden pool of public funds.
“The IMF has now exposed that narrative as a big fat lie.
“While the poor were told to bleed, the government maintained access to a ₦8.8 trillion shadow treasury, entirely outside public view, entirely beyond legislative oversight, and entirely at the disposal of those who hold executive power.”
The former vice president maintained that transparent deployment of the funds could have stimulated the economy, strengthened the naira, lowered borrowing costs and created millions of jobs.
“The poverty of Nigerian citizens today is not fate. It is policy, or more precisely, it is the consequence of the absence of transparent, accountable, productive economic policy, replaced by the private management of public resources for political purposes under the Tinubu-led APC administration.”
Atiku demanded immediate emergency hearings by the National Assembly into the IMF’s findings, a comprehensive audit by the Auditor-General of the Federation, full disclosure of all off-budget expenditures, the refund of the alleged ₦800 billion deducted from state allocations, and independent investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
He also called on civil society groups, professional bodies, the business community and international financial institutions to insist on full accountability.
“A government that governs in secret spends in secret. A government that spends in secret does not govern, it plunders.
“The Tinubu administration has been exposed, not by its political opponents and not by partisan advocacy, but by the International Monetary Fund, the most authoritative multilateral financial institution in the world.
“The evidence is on the record. The figures are not in dispute.
“We will not accept it. And we call on every Nigerian who believes in the integrity of the public treasury, the sovereignty of the Nigerian people over their own resources, and the future of this republic to refuse to accept it as well.”
