Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to investigate allegations that some ministers paid billions of naira to secure their appointments.
Atiku, who was the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, also urged Tinubu to disclose the identities of those who allegedly received the money.
The demand followed a claim by a spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Alwan Hassan, who alleged that some ministers paid billions of naira to secure their appointments and subsequently sought to recover the funds.
In a post on X on Friday, Atiku questioned who received the alleged payments, given that Tinubu appointed the ministers.
“Bola @officialABAT, your campaign spokesman has admitted that ministers paid billions in bribes to secure their appointments,” Atiku wrote. “You appointed them, so who received the money? Nigerians deserve names, not silence.”
The former Vice-President also blamed the administration’s economic policies for the rising cost of living, accusing the President of withholding funds from ministries due to distrust of his ministers.
“Your government’s reckless decisions have driven the cost-of-living crisis, and when you withhold funds from ministries because you distrust your own ministers, Nigerians are left paying for a government that has abandoned them.”
Hassan made the allegation during an interview on Arise News on Thursday while defending Tinubu’s direct involvement in overseeing government revenue and expenditure.
He said some ministers spent billions of naira to secure appointments and subsequently focused on recovering their investments.
“The way Asiwaju is hands-on on the expenditure of our revenue is fantastic, and I love it. A lot of ministers pay billions and billions, and, you know, to get themselves appointed. The first thing they think of is how to recoup that money.
He, however, said the alleged practice was not peculiar to the ruling APC, claiming that it had persisted under successive administrations.
“But this is the truth I’m telling you about our country, not just APC, before APC, the biggest fraudulent people you arrest after every government are ministers.”
Hassan made the remarks while responding to questions about the government’s ability to meet its budgetary commitments, arguing that Tinubu’s direct oversight of expenditure had helped safeguard public funds.
He questioned the need to leave budget implementation entirely to ministers, saying the President had personally overseen much of the administration’s spending.
“Whatever it is a budget is supposed to do in this country in the last three and a half years, Asiwaju has done it by himself, why do we need ministers? Why do we need a budget to be given to ministers?”, Hassan asked.
The APC campaign spokesman also defended the administration’s record on pension payments, claiming that funds had been released to settle outstanding entitlements owed to retired federal civil servants.
He cited an exit benefit scheme for retiring civil servants, as well as government investments in electricity metering, electric vehicles, surveillance drones, and local ammunition production, as evidence of the administration’s performance.
Hassan maintained that the government’s achievements would strengthen the APC’s prospects ahead of the 2027 presidential election.