Atiku says Presidency’s attempt to shield Gbajabiamila backfired
Atiku Abubakar says the Presidency’s attempt to shield Femi Gbajabiamila from the PFIPC scandal has exposed the administration to greater ridicule.
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has said the tactics “employed by the Presidency to rescue” the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, from the mounting allegations surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal have exposed the Tinubu administration to even greater public ridicule and suspicion.
In a statement through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said that while the dust raised by the scandal involving the self-acclaimed Director-General of the “supposed non-existent” Council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, has yet to settle, “fresh revelations from the 2026 Appropriation Act have exposed a disturbing pattern of budgetary manipulations and the deliberate concealment of questionable projects in obscure agencies for the apparent purpose of diverting public funds”.
The former Vice President noted that on page 2236 of the Appropriation Act, 2026, under the budget of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education, the Tinubu administration inserted billions of naira for road construction projects that have nothing to do with the Commission’s statutory mandate. According to the budget, about ₦1.4 billion was earmarked for the rehabilitation and construction of Obasanjo-Itele Road, Nazareth Road, Oke Ola, Imeko, Idogo Township Road, and Odedeyo-Mewuro Road. Another ₦1.4 billion was budgeted for roads from Eyini High School to Lusada Junction Road, Ibooro, Idiya Central Community Road, Roundabout Abeokuta, Ile Ise Community Asuje Road, and Soyote Community Road in Abeokuta. Yet another ₦1.05 billion was set aside for Pakuj-Yporan Township Road in Ipokia Ward 2, while an additional ₦1.05 billion was allocated for RCC Opposite Honda Agbebi Community Road and Ajuwon Baale Road.
“The question that naturally arises is this: Since when did the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education become a road construction agency?” Atiku said. “At a time when over 20 million Nigerian children remain outside the classroom, when schools are collapsing under the weight of neglect and when the Almajiri crisis continues to threaten the future of an entire generation, the decision to convert an education commission into a contractor for road projects represents not merely a distortion of priorities but a cruel betrayal of the very children the Commission was created to serve.”
He recalled that in the 2023 budget, funds meant for the Federal College of Education, Umunze, Anambra State, were allegedly deployed to execute constituency projects in Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos State on behalf of Gbajabiamila, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives, while the institution itself was denied much-needed capital funding.
The winners: Atiku Abubakar and the opposition, who have gained a political weapon. The losers: the Tinubu administration, which faces fresh questions about its fiscal integrity, and the millions of out-of-school children who will not benefit from the funds meant for their education.
Bottom Line: A commission for out-of-school children is building roads. That is not a budget. That is a crime scene.