Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has leveled an accusation against the Tinubu’s administration, claiming it has squandered ₦17.5 trillion on questionable pipeline security in just 12 months.

Atiku made this known on his X handle on Sunday, noting that this homogeneous pipeline security expenditure is “more than 12 years of fuel subsidy.”

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party asserted that the expenditure represents a major scandal. He wrote: “The report that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited spent a humongous ₦17.5 trillion in just 12 months on “securing fuel pipelines and others’ stands as one of the most brazen financial scandals in our nation’s history.”

Atiku recalled the previous cost of the fuel subsidy program, noting: “Nigeria spent roughly ₦18 trillion on fuel subsidy over a period of twelve years — a national programme that directly cushioned millions of Nigerians, stabilised the transport sector, and helped keep food prices manageable.”

He declared that under President Bola Tinubu, the country has now expended nearly the same amount in a single year on the same subsidy and opaque pipeline security contracts awarded to private firms tied to associates and cronies of the President. Atiku provided a scathing assessment of this action: “Indeed, the action of the President is akin to robbing Peter (Nigerians) to pay Paul (cronies),” Atiku said. “This is not governance. This is grand larceny dressed as public expenditure.”

Atiku, now a Chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, recalled the administration’s justification for the fuel subsidy removal, stating that the country could no longer afford it. He emphasized the sacrifice demanded of the populace: “Nigerians were told to tighten their belts, endure hardship, and “make sacrifices.”

He contrasted this demand with the current spending: “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.”

Atiku addressed the lingering issue of fuel costs and alleged continued subsidy payments under different names. He stated: “In some places in the country, a litre of PMS goes for over N1,000 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 N7.13tn on what it calls, “energy-security cost to keep petrol prices stable”; another N8.67tn on what it calls “under-recovery.”

He then coined the administration’s new terms as deceptive: “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.” Atiku noted that the expenditure raises fundamental questions of public trust and national integrity.

He subsequently posed several questions to the Tinubu administration, demanding to know: “who are the companies paid under these contracts?” and “What specifically justifies a 38.7 percent rise in the amount of energy cost from N6.25tn in 2024 to N8.67tn in 2025?”

He also questioned why the expenditure was so high, asking: “pipeline security is now more expensive than a decade-long subsidy that served over 200 million Nigerians?” He further demanded transparency documents: “Where are the audit reports, parliamentary oversight findings, and cost-validation documents?”

Atiku argued that the level of fiscal recklessness undermined the government’s moral standing, saying: “No administration that presides over this level of fiscal recklessness has the moral authority to demand sacrifice from its people.” He added that the public should not bear economic hardship while others benefit privately: “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.”

He asserted that the scandal proves the government’s deception regarding subsidy removal: “This scandal 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.”

He then requested that the federal government take several immediate actions, including: “Publish the full list of companies awarded these contracts; disclose the scope, deliverables, and duration of each contract; and subject the entire ₦17.5 trillion expenditure to an independent forensic audit.”

Other demands included: “an immediate halt of further disbursement until accountability is established; and an explanation of “how this expenditure aligns with national priorities at a time of unprecedented economic strangulation.”

Atiku concluded his statement by demanding transparency: “Nigerians deserve transparency, not deceit. They deserve leadership, not cronyism. And they deserve a government that places national interest above private enrichment. This ₦17.5 trillion pipeline-security expenditure is not merely a financial anomaly — it is a moral indictment on the Tinubu administration and a clarion call for full accountability.”