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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of deliberately failing to comply with a binding judgement of the Supreme Court ordering the Nigerian government to implement direct allocation of funds to local governments.
Atiku, in a statement addressed personally to Tinubu, said that by July 2026, the Tinubu administration would have spent two years “deliberately ignoring” the court’s ruling directing that allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) be paid directly to local governments.
“Dear President Bola Tinubu, by July next year, your administration will have spent two full years deliberately ignoring a binding judgement of the Supreme Court directing the Federal Government to implement direct FAAC allocation to local governments,” Atiku wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
“This is not delay. It is defiance. Your refusal to act is a calculated political move—using obedience to the law as a bargaining chip to force opposition governors into the APC and to keep governors within your party firmly under your control.”
Atiku accused Tinubu of reducing the Constitution “to a tool of convenience” and “governance to partisan bargaining.”
“Let us be clear: Supreme Court judgements are final, not optional. Persistently refusing to enforce one is a direct breach of the Constitution and a violation of the oath you swore to Nigerians,” he stated.
The former vice president added that the continued withholding of financial autonomy for local governments was harming communities across the country, leading to stalled development, unpaid salaries, and abandoned infrastructure.
He added that enforcing the judgement did not require executive orders or political confrontation, urging the president to instruct the Attorney-General of the Federation to act immediately.
“Local governments are the closest arm of government to the people. By withholding their financial autonomy (which ironically you’ve been trumpeting as a core cardinal policy), you are not weakening governors; you are crippling communities, stalling development, and deepening poverty at the grassroots. Roads remain broken, health centres abandoned, and salaries unpaid—not by accident, but by choice.
“This situation does not require threats of executive orders or political drama. The solution is simple: instruct the Attorney-General of the Federation to enforce the judgement immediately. Anything short of this is a failure of leadership.”
He also warned that Tinubu’s continued inaction would send a message that “political control matters more than constitutional duty, that party dominance matters more than economic justice, and that regime survival outweighs the daily suffering of Nigerians already battered by harsh economic policies.”
