Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of presiding over one of the "most brazen financial scandals" in Nigeria's history, following reports that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) spent ₦17.5 trillion in just one year on pipeline and energy security.
In a statement issued by the Atiku Media Office on Sunday, the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate said the figure represented almost the same amount Nigeria spent on fuel subsidy over a 12-year period.
"For clarity, Nigeria spent roughly ₦18 trillion on fuel subsidy over twelve years, a national programme that directly cushioned millions of Nigerians, stabilised the transport sector, and helped keep food prices manageable," Atiku said. "Yet, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the country has now expended nearly the same amount in a single year on opaque pipeline security contracts awarded to private firms tied to associates and cronies of the President."
He likened the expenditure to "robbing Peter (Nigerians) to pay Paul (cronies)," describing it as "grand larceny dressed as public expenditure."
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Atiku criticised the Tinubu administration for what he called hypocrisy and deceit in its handling of Nigeria's fuel subsidy policy. "The Tinubu administration justified the removal of fuel subsidy by claiming the country could no longer afford it. Nigerians were told to tighten their belts, endure hardship, and make sacrifices. However, the same administration has now channelled ₦17.5 trillion--an amount that could transform Nigeria's power sector, rebuild our refineries, or fund universal healthcare into opaque security contracts whose beneficiaries are conveniently linked to those in power," he said.
The former Vice President also pointed to discrepancies in the NNPCL's records, saying that despite claims that subsidy has been removed, the government continued to spend heavily under new nomenclatures.
"In some places in the country, a litre of PMS goes for over ₦1,000 and the justification for this by the Tinubu administration is the wholesome removal of subsidy. Yet, according to the records provided by the NNPCL, this same administration has spent ₦7.13 trillion on what it calls 'energy-security cost to keep petrol prices stable,' and another ₦8.67 trillion on what it calls 'under-recovery.' These two balablu nomenclatures -- energy-cost and under-recovery are a new coinage of the Tinubu administration to deceive Nigerians on the government's fraudulent claim that it was no longer paying subsidies on petroleum products," he said.
Atiku raised several questions about transparency and accountability in the reported expenditure, demanding to know who the companies paid under these contracts were; what specifically justified a 38.7 per cent rise in the amount of energy-cost from ₦6.25 trillion in 2024 to ₦8.67 trillion in 2025; why pipeline security now costs more than a decade-long fuel subsidy programme that served over 200 million Nigerians; and where the audit reports and parliamentary oversight findings were.
"No administration that presides over this level of fiscal recklessness has the moral authority to demand sacrifice from its people," he said. "The Nigerian public cannot continue to suffer crushing inflation, punitive fuel prices, an unending collapse of the naira, and widespread hunger, only for a select circle of political allies to pocket trillions under the guise of 'pipeline security."'
According to Atiku, the ₦17.5 trillion expenditure "confirms what Nigerians already know: the Tinubu administration did not end subsidy, it merely redirected public wealth from the entire nation to a privileged cartel anchored around the Presidency."
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He called on the Federal Government to immediately publish the full list of companies awarded the contracts; disclose the scope, deliverables, and duration of each contract and subject the entire ₦17.5 trillion expenditure to an independent forensic audit.
Atiku also asked the federal government to suspend further payments pending accountability and explain how the spending aligns with national priorities amid worsening economic hardship.
"Nigerians deserve transparency, not deceit. They deserve leadership, not cronyism. And they deserve a government that places national interest above private enrichment," Atiku said.
He concluded that the reported ₦17.5 trillion pipeline security expenditure was "not merely a financial anomaly --it is a moral indictment on the Tinubu administration and a clarion call for full accountability."
