Politics
A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership. By George Omagbemi Sylvester
A Nation Betrayed: How NASS Budget Padding Exposes Tinubu’s Complicity and the Rot in Nigeria’s Leadership.
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
In a disturbing revelation that should outrage every patriotic Nigerian, civic-tech organization BudgIT has uncovered a monumental financial scandal in the 2025 budget, one that shatters every illusion of fiscal responsibility under the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. According to BudgIT’s damning analysis, the National Assembly padded the 2025 Appropriation Act by inserting 11,122 projects worth a staggering ₦6.93 trillion, projects not proposed by any Ministries, Departments or Agencies (MDAs), but smuggled in by lawmakers.
This is not a clerical oversight, but a calculated and treacherous move. More importantly, this raises one inescapable question: Why did President Bola Tinubu sign this fraudulent budget into law if he was genuinely against it? The answer is simple, brutal and damning: because he is part of the collaboration. This is not just corruption, it is institutional betrayal. It is the final confirmation that the war in Nigeria is not between political parties but between the corrupt elite and the suffering Nigerian masses.
The Anatomy of Budget Padding
Let us first understand the scale of this treachery. The 2025 national budget, totalling ₦28.7 trillion, now has nearly 25% padded content, courtesy of lawmakers’ “constituency projects.” These are not national priorities or economically strategic programs. These are politically motivated insertions designed to enrich contractors linked to lawmakers, reward political loyalty and in some cases, simply launder money.
BudgIT revealed that several of these projects are duplicated, vague, inflated or outrightly useless, such as the procurement of hundreds of boreholes and solar streetlights in areas that do not even have roads, schools or hospitals. These are not investments; they are tools of financial cannibalism.
A similar trend happened in previous years, but never on this scale. In 2021, former President Buhari complained that the National Assembly inserted over 1,000 projects worth ₦150 billion. Now, under Tinubu, that figure has ballooned to ₦6.93 trillion; which is nearly forty-six times higher. This is not reform. This is regression at gunpoint.
Tinubu’s Silence is Complicity
To sign such a budget, fully aware of its fraudulent padding, is not a mistake, this is an endorsement. President Tinubu, known for his political astuteness and Machiavellian tactics, cannot claim ignorance. BudgIT’s report was based on public records. If civic groups could uncover this, then surely the Office of the President, with all its resources, was also aware.
Yet, Tinubu raised no alarm. He signed it into law. Why?
Because the padding was politically convenient. This budget is not just a fiscal document, it is a loyalty purchase agreement. As the APC seeks to consolidate power ahead of 2027, especially in light of its underwhelming performance, it is using state resources to bribe lawmakers across party lines. These padded projects are political IOUs for securing second-term endorsements and collapsing opposition platforms.
This is not democratic governance. This is budgetary banditry, orchestrated under the guise of legislative “oversight.”
The Cost to the People
While the so-called leaders gorge themselves on fake projects and fraudulent allocations, ordinary Nigerians are gasping for breath. Inflation is above 33%, food inflation is at 40%, unemployment remains sky-high and naira continues to hemorrhage value, trading at nearly ₦1,500 to the dollar. Meanwhile, the masses are told to “tighten their belts” while the political elite expands theirs.
Public infrastructure is collapsing. Schools remain underfunded, hospitals are glorified mortuaries and insecurity has become a permanent fixture. Yet ₦6.93 trillion enough to build 20 world-class universities or electrify entire regions has been carved out as a political slush fund.
Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education and former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, once noted, “The problem with Nigeria is not lack of resources. It is the deliberate theft of the commonwealth by a few.” That is exactly what this budget represents: a theft of historic proportions, blessed by the presidency, executed by lawmakers and paid for by the blood and sweat of ordinary Nigerians.
A Nation Held Hostage
The fundamental betrayal here is not just the money. It is the normalization of impunity. Nigeria has become a hostage state where lawmakers legislate for themselves, the executive protects the corrupt and the judiciary often dances to the tune of power. The 2025 budget saga is not just another scandal, it is a window into how deeply broken the Nigerian state has become.
Even worse is the sheer arrogance with which this fraud is being executed. No lawmaker has denied BudgIT’s report. No investigation has been ordered. The Presidency has remained silent and the APC, whose manifesto once promised “fiscal discipline,” has said nothing.
Silence is not just death anymore, it is endorsement. Every day this padded budget stands unchallenged, democracy dies a little more.
Calls for Action
This cannot be allowed to stand. Civil society must rise. Journalists must demand answers. Every Nigerian must understand that this is not politics this is plunder. The 2025 budget must be reviewed, the padded projects must be removed and those responsible must face prosecution.
Section 81(1) of the Nigerian Constitution empowers the President to prepare and lay before the National Assembly an annual budget. However, it also states in Section 80(4) that “no moneys shall be withdrawn from any public fund other than in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” This legal ambiguity has been weaponized by both the legislature and the executive to enrich themselves while the nation bleeds.
This is where the people must draw the line. Budget padding is not just bad governance, it is treason against the Nigerian people. Those who participate in it, approve it or benefit from it must be named, shamed and prosecuted.
Final Thoughts: Time for a Revolution of Accountability
The time for timid reform is over. Nigeria needs a revolution not of guns, but of accountability, transparency and civic outrage. If the President will not fight corruption, then the people must. If lawmakers will not serve the people, they must be voted out even if it means starting from scratch.
History will not be kind to the collaborators of this budget. And neither should we.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” The 2025 budget scandal matters. It is a defining moment in the fight for Nigeria’s soul. And we must not remain silent.
Politics
2027 BATTLE: How Much Nigeria Can Save, Invest In Infrastructure By Rotating Power Among Six Geo-political Zones For A Single Term Of Five Or Six Years
2027 BATTLE: How Much Nigeria Can Save, Invest In Infrastructure By Rotating Power Among Six Geo-political Zones For A Single Term Of Five Or Six Years
As a Southernern, particularly from the South East Geo-Political Zone, I believe the most potent argument for us in 2027 is that the North/South zoning arrangement of political power at the center is a scam. It’s a scam because it has only benefitted the South West and the North West geo-political zones since the return of ‘democracy’ (civil rule) in Nigeria on May 29, 1999. Nigeria, it must be clarified has six geo-political zones, not two.
Nigeria was divided into six geo-political zones in 1996 by the military government of General Sanni Abacha. This new zoning arrangement was a brainchild of the 1994/1995 Constitutional Conference chaired by the late Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte and empaneled by General Sanni Abacha.
At that Conference, no less a person than former Vice President Chief Alex Ekwueme and a group called Mkpoko Igbo proposed that since Nigeria will now be divided into six geo-political zones, to give all zones a sense of belonging within the Nigerian State, that power at the center should rotate among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years. In their thinking, if power was rotated among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, within 30 years or 36 years, all six zones would have had one of their own leading Nigeria, particularly, from their first 11 (primus inter pares). The North and the South West delegations at that conference pooh-poohed Chief Alex Ekwueme and summarily shut down that all-important proposal. The rest they say is history.
More than 30 years later, there is yet no national peace, national cohesion, national political stability, national unity, and national loyalty to the Nigerian State. Had the proposal of Chief Alex Ekwueme and Mkpoko Igbo been adopted and implemented since 1999, at least, the 5th Geo-Political Zone would have had one of their own in Aso Villa today, and by 2035, the last geo-political zone would have being sending us one of their own to contest the Presidency across Nigeria’s current 18 political parties. This mathematics is if we had gone with a single term of six years (the maximum limit) as proposed by Dr. Ekwueme and the South East and South South delegates in that 1994/1995 Constitutional Conference.
Fast forward to today, in his recent Arise TV interview, and in some other public and private fora, H.E. Atiku Abubakar asked for Dr. Ekwueme’s forgiveness as he was among key Northern delegates in that Constitutional Conference from the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua group that opposed the rotational presidency among Nigeria’s geo-political zones. Waziri Adamawa had disclosed that he even apologized to Alex Ekwueme when he visited Oko, Anambra State, to pay homage to the former late vice president sometime in 2017/2018.
By and large, for 2027, I believe that the most potent argument that will sell in the South East is that the North East where Waziri Adamawa hails from, just like the South East (our region), had also been marginalized in the scheme of things in Nigeria. Aside from Alhaji Tafawa Balewa from Bauchi State (North East), nobody from the region/zone has been head of national government, head of state, or even president since 1966.
So, H.E. Atiku Abubakar is right in contesting the Presidential election billed for January 16, 2027, to right this wrong, and return Nigeria’s presidency to an equitable distribution of power at the center. When elected, and it’s entrenched in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), that power rotates among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, this new formula will bring about national peace, national cohesion, national unity, and tremendously commandeer national loyalty among Nigerians from across the six geo-political zones for their beloved country, the Nigerian State.
As a budding political scientist of repute and ardent student of contemporary Nigerian history and politics, let me tell us what this formular would do for the Nigerian State. The battle for the soul of the Nigerian State will be ferocious at the zonal level, while the center will become unattractive. So, let’s say it is the turn of the North East Geo-Political Zone to produce the Presidency in 2027, the battle to gift Nigerians their First 11 (primus inter pares) will be ferocious across the States in the region. The people of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe will now be more interested in partisan politics, thus being proactive participants within the current 18 political parties in Nigeria.
Giving Nigeria’s configurations and peculiarities, one of the positives of this political proactiveness is that it’s a win-win situation for the entire region if a man from Adamawa becomes President of Nigeria in 2027. The people from Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Gombe, and Bauchi will be largely happy, contented, hold their peace, love Nigeria better, and be more loyal to the Nigerian State because one of their own is now the GCFR, the primus inter pares, and the No. 1 Citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The steep insecurity that has ravaged the North East Geo-Political Zone since 2009, largely owing to perceived agelong marginalisation, oppression, injustices, would largely die down.
This will be the same case for the South East Geo-Political Zone. Biafra secessionist agitations, IPOB, ESN led by Nnamdi Kanu, will die a natural death. Justice and equity for all breeds contentment among men, and contentment among men births peace, unity, commandeers loyalty, and tremendously brings about prosperity. I stand to be challenged on this self-evident truth on any national television station.
When it is the turn of another region to produce the Presidency, after the North East has had their turn, all political parties in Nigeria must constitutionally present a Presidential candidate from the region whose turn it is to produce the presidency for a single term of six years. This rotational presidency formula must be entrenched in Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended) by May 29, 2027.
I avow that rotational presidency among Nigeria’s six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years is the best political science solution to the agelong hydra-headed problem of Nigeria, especially in the guise of disunity, unpeaceful, and disloyalty problems among Nigerian citizens. Doing this will also largely curtail the executive rascalities, legislative rascalities, and judicial rascalities currently being perpetrated by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu led Executive arm; the Godswill Akpabio led Legislative arm; and the CJN Kudirat Motonmori Olatokunbo Kekere-Ekun led Judiciary arm.
The over desperation of getting re-elected for a second term in office, as shown today by Bola Tinubu, will be eraced for future Nigerian Presidents. The humongous money and depletion of Nigeria’s national treasury just for seeking re-election at all cost, and conducting elections will also be erased.
The Highfalutin, Draining Cost Of Conducting Elections In Nigeria?
For the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proposed N305 billion in May 2022, which was a 62 percent increase over the 2019 budget. Ultimately, the National Assembly approved N355 billion for the exercise, though the commission spent N313.4 billion as of September 2023.
For the 2027 general election, INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan proposed a total budget of N873.78 billion to the National Assembly in February 2026. This proposal includes N375.75 billion for election operations, N209.21 billion for technology, and N92.31 billion for administrative costs. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu led APC regime had previously allocated N1.01 trillion to INEC in the 2026 budget presented in January 2026.
Ladies and gentlemen, INEC’s election budget ballooned from N355 billion in 2023 to a whopping N873.78 billion for a re-election season in 2027? This is approximately a percentage increase of 146.13%. This is unacceptable, opprobrious, and insalubrious.
If we entrench in the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), zoning the presidency among the six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years, this proposed N873.78 billion to coduct the 2027 re-election season would have been eliminated.
What Can N873.78 billion Do For Nigerians In Terms Of Infrastructural Developmental Projects?
If hypothetically redirected or matched in scale for infrastructure development, N873.78 billion could significantly advance Nigeria’s infrastructure across key sectors:
1. Roads and Transportation: This amount could fund the rehabilitation of over 10,000 kilometers (6213.712 miles) of rural and urban roads, especially when combined with technical support from institutions like the World Bank’s RAAMP-SU project.
It could complete critical projects like the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway or support the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, enhancing regional connectivity and trade.
2. Railway Development: Based on past projects, N873 billion could finance a new 600–800 km (373-497 miles) standard gauge rail line, similar to the Abuja-Kaduna or Lagos-Ibadan lines, which were partially funded by Chinese loans.
Rail expansion would boost freight movement, reduce road congestion, and create thousands of jobs.
3. Power and Energy: The sum could support renewable energy projects, such as solar mini-grids for 10,000 rural communities, or fund transmission infrastructure to reduce power losses.
For context, Power Africa facilitated $63 million in renewable energy investments over 26 months—N873 billion could scale such efforts dramatically.
4. Water and Sanitation: Funds could build or upgrade water treatment plants, boreholes, and sanitation systems in underserved urban and rural areas, improving public health and reducing waterborne diseases.
5. Agricultural Infrastructure: The NSIA’s Multipurpose Industrial Platform Ltd (MIPL) in Akwa Ibom, including an ammonia and fertilizer plant, is a multi-billion-dollar project. N873 billion could fund multiple such agro-industrial hubs, boosting food security and reducing import dependence.
Analyzing The Current Infrastructure Spending In Nigeria In Relation To N873.78 Billion?
For comparison, Nigeria’s actual infrastructure allocations are much lower than the humongous money INEC is proposing to conduct the shaky 2027 general elections in Nigeria.
The 2025 Federal Budget allocated ₦4.06 trillion ($2.7 billion) for infrastructure—about 7.4% of total spending.
The National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) aims to raise infrastructure stock to 70% of GDP by 2043, requiring $100 billion annually—far above current spending levels.
Pension funds invested ₦262.57 billion in infrastructure in the first 10 months of 2025. This is below N873.78 billion being earmarked for the 2027 elections.
Without mincing words, let me aver that the N873.78 billion could transform infrastructural developmental projects in Nigeria, But the fact that this amount is proposed for elections, not infrastructural developmental projects, highlights a mismatch between public needs and government spending priorities in Nigeria, especially under the disastrous APC regime of Bola Tinubu.
Conclusion
While N873.78 billion is earmarked for elections, its scale underscores what Nigeria could achieve in infrastructure if similar resources were consistently invested. Redirecting even a fraction of election budgets toward roads, power, rail, water, and agriculture could accelerate economic growth, create jobs, and improve quality of life in Nigeria. However, transparency, accountability, and long-term planning are essential to ensure such investments yield lasting benefits.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, let’s consider the substantial ingredients of this political seminal and fix this mess of power rotation at the center among Nigeria’s six geo-political zones for a single term of five or six years. Let’s stop wasting scarce resources in Nigeria conducting re-elections at the center and across state levels. Let’s stop wasting everybody’s time in Nigeria.
Ikenna Asomba is a political scientist and journalist. He writes from the State of Illinois, United States.
Politics
2027 BOMBSHELL: Dismantling The Myth Around Kwankwaso’s So-Called Electoral Dominance In Kano
2027 BOMBSHELL: Dismantling The Myth Around Kwankwaso’s So-Called Electoral Dominance In Kano
Politics
I am fully ready for the 2027 general elections”- ADP, presidential aspirant, Prof. Omolaja, declares
“I am fully ready for the 2027 general elections”- ADP, presidential aspirant, Prof. Omolaja, declares.
By Comrade Samson Ajibade Alabi, NLP Media Director
A presidential aspirant under the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Prof Muhammad Omolaja, has said that he is fully ready for the 2027 general elections especially the presidential contest.
Prof. Omolaja who disclosed this in an exclusive interview with pressmen in Abuja on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, said he has done his consultations with leaders of the Party, boasting that he is the next president of Nigeria by the grace of God.
He submitted that he has won the heart of the people at the grassroots across all the States and geopolitical zones including the federal capital territory (FCT); and convinced them about his clear vision and mission for Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerians are tired of the APC government and ready to vote them out in favour of his Party; the ADP!
Prof. Omolaja added that ADP is the only Party that can liberate Nigeria and rescue the citizens from the prevailing insecurity and other challenges facing the country.
The presidential aspirant said “you are asking me if I am ready for the 2027 general elections or not, I hereby inform you categorically that I am fully ready for the election; we have done what to be done, we have systematically carried Nigerians along in our preparations especially the people at the grassroots; and we have let them know that ADP is the only credible alternative Party that can liberate them from all the challenges the country is facing under the prevailing APC government. I am confident that I will get the ticket of our great Party being the leading contestant, and win the upcoming 2027 presidential election by the special grace of the Almighty God”
He therefore urged Nigerians to rally support for him and his Party (ADP) at the polls in the spirit of peace, love, unity, and patriotism in Nigeria.
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