Stop grammar, show Nigerians the money – Atiku Tackles Tinubu

Former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar has accused the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of taxing Nigerians to the bone while failing basic fiscal transparency test.

Atiku made the allegation in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday.

His allegation came on the heels of a US report indicating Nigeria missed minimum fiscal transparency standards with no notable progress in public access to budgets and revenue reporting.

Atiku described the Tinubu Presidency’s response to the United States Government’s assessment of Nigeria’s fiscal transparency as an embarrassing attempt to bury a serious indictment beneath bureaucratic grammar.

According to Atiku, the Presidency has failed to address the substance of the assessment.

He accused the present administration of choosing instead to dismiss it as an “external benchmark” that does not capture the administration’s reforms.

He pointed out that the United States found that Nigeria failed to meet minimum fiscal transparency requirements and made “no significant progress” in addressing deficiencies concerning budget information, revenue and expenditure reporting, audit independence and public access to procurement information.

Atiku said: “What exactly is the Tinubu Presidency saying? Nigeria failed the minimum fiscal transparency test, and its response is essentially: yes, we failed, but the test does not tell the whole story.

“That is not a defence. It is an admission wrapped in grammar.

“If, after all the reforms this administration advertises, Nigeria still cannot satisfy minimum fiscal transparency requirements, the problem is not the assessment. The problem is the government.

“The contradiction is even more disturbing when the government’s appetite for taxation is considered.

“The CBN’s July 2026 Business Expectations Survey showed that 70.8 per cent of respondents identified high and multiple taxation as their biggest business constraint.

“Yet, the same administration understands the importance of tax relief when dealing with major oil operators, offering performance-based incentives to attract investment.

“So Tinubu understands that excessive taxation can discourage investment when large corporations are involved, but somehow forgets the same economic principle when Nigerian manufacturers, SMEs, traders and entrepreneurs are being suffocated by multiple taxes and levies.

“You cannot demand first-class compliance from taxpayers while offering third-class accountability in return.”

Atiku challenged Tinubu over his promise to “soon publish” how resources arising from fuel subsidy removal are being utilised.

He said the report may be coming too late after Nigerians were asked to endure three years of extraordinary hardship in the name of subsidy removal.

The former vice president urged the government to open the books and publish a full account of the subsidy savings and show Nigerians, project by project, where the money went.

He said: “Publish the financial details of the rehabilitation of government-owned refineries: how much was spent, who received the contracts, what was delivered and why Nigerians are again being promised that the refineries will ‘come back to work.’

“The answer to an accusation of opacity is transparency, not another press statement.

“If the U.S. assessment is wrong, disprove it with the records. If it is incomplete, complete the picture with the accounts.

“Nigerians have paid enough. They have sacrificed enough. President Tinubu should stop explaining and start accounting.

“Open the books. Show Nigerians the money.

“The Tinubu government has failed a fundamental test of accountability, and Nigerians are living with the consequences of that failure every day in worsening hardship.

“The country is bleeding, and the evidence is no longer hidden.