Atiku queries N22.15bn budget for construction, renovation of 106 palaces

Former Vice President of Nigeria and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has queried the Tinubu administration’s provision of ₦22.15 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces across Nigeria, describing it as a “constitutional aberration”.

Speaking on Thursday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the Waziri Adamawa said the development exposed yet another attempt to turn the national budget into an instrument for illegality and official corruption.

Atiku said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is unambiguous on the distribution of governmental responsibilities and does not confer on the Federal Government the responsibility for constructing or renovating palaces belonging to traditional institutions.

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He said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not to amend it through the Appropriation Act, stressing that “traditional institutions are matters within the constitutional competence of state and local governments. A federal budget cannot lawfully be used to assume responsibilities that the Constitution has assigned elsewhere.”

He said the question before Nigerians is straightforward.

“Under which provision of the Constitution is the Federal Government appropriating ₦22.15 billion from the Federation Account for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces? Which Constitution is President Tinubu operating?

“The constitutional position is unmistakable. The 1999 Constitution did not establish, fund or assign any executive responsibility over traditional institutions to the Federal Government. Indeed, its only reference to traditional institutions is in the Third Schedule, Part II, where it merely permits states to establish a Council of Chiefs to advise their governors on chieftaincy and customary law matters. Beyond this limited advisory role, the Constitution leaves the creation, administration and funding of traditional institutions to state governments and the laws enacted by their respective Houses of Assembly. President Tinubu cannot, by the instrument of an Appropriation Act, assume powers that the Constitution deliberately withheld from the Federal Government.”

Atiku said the constitutional breach is compounded by the refusal of the Federal Government to disclose the identities of the traditional rulers, the locations of the projects and the communities where the palaces are supposedly to be renovated.

“Government wants Nigerians to approve ₦22.15 billion for 106 palace projects, yet it cannot identify the beneficiaries or tell the nation where those palaces are located. Every road, school, hospital and constituency project in the national budget carries a location. Why are these projects hidden? That is not budgeting; it is writing a blank cheque for corruption.”

He noted that the secrecy surrounding the allocations creates the legitimate suspicion that the projects exist only on paper and that even the traditional rulers in whose names the funds were appropriated may never benefit from them.

“If these projects are genuine, publish the names of the palaces, the traditional rulers, their locations, the implementing agencies and the contractors. The refusal to do so leaves Nigerians with only one conclusion—that this may be another elaborate conduit for siphoning public funds.”

Atiku said a national budget is more than a financial statement; it is a moral and constitutional document that reflects the priorities of government.

“The Nigerian people—not politically convenient projects—must remain the centerpiece of every national budget. Unfortunately, under the Tinubu administration, fiscal appropriations appear to have elevated official corruption above public service. That explains why, despite trillions of naira appropriated since 2023, Nigerians have seen deteriorating decline in standard of living threshold. Hunger has deepened, inflation remains crushing, insecurity persists, industries are shutting down and purchasing power continues to decline.”
He stressed that the statement was not an attack on Nigeria’s revered traditional institutions.

“Our royal fathers deserve dignity and respect. They must not be used as unwilling instruments to legitimise opaque and constitutionally questionable budgetary allocations. If this administration truly respects the traditional institution, it should stop hiding behind it.”
Atiku called on the Presidency, the Budget Office and all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies to immediately publish the complete list of the 106 palaces, their locations, the amounts allocated to each project, the constitutional basis for the expenditure and the procurement process through which the contracts will be awarded.

“The national treasury is not a Bourdillon-based private vault, and the Appropriation Act is not a license to suspend the Constitution. No government can claim to uphold the rule of law while appropriating public funds for projects it can not constitutionally undertake and whose beneficiaries it refuses to identify.”