Senator’s Admission Vindicates Us On Security Funding, Atiku Says
Atiku Abubakar 2011 President campaign
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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has blamed the deaths of more than 17,000 Nigerians since May 2023 on the alleged withholding of security funds appropriated by law, insisting that a recent admission by a ruling party senator vindicates warnings the opposition has voiced for months.
In a statement issued by his senior special assistant on public communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate said the intervention of Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, Chief Whip of the Senate and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), exposed the human cost of what he described as the Tinubu administration’s fiscal opacity.
“These are not mere statistics. They are fathers, mothers, children, farmers, students and breadwinners whose lives have been cut short. Behind every number is a family condemned to a lifetime of grief,” Atiku said.
The controversy stems from Monguno’s remarks at a Senate Committee on Finance session on July 20, where he pressed Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele over weak budget performance. Monguno said security agencies had told lawmakers they received nothing for capital spending. “All the security agencies that we have interacted with are reporting to us that they have received zero allocation in terms of their capital,” he said, adding that barely 30 percent of the 2025 budget had been implemented.
Atiku argued that the disclosure explained, in part, the relentless bloodshed. “These are not allegations from the opposition. They are grave constitutional questions raised by a distinguished senator of the ruling party,” he said.
The figures behind the debate are stark. The Federal Government committed about N6.57 trillion to defence and security in 2025, its largest such allocation and roughly 11 percent of the national budget, according to analysis by the civic group BudgIT. Between 2021 and 2025, security votes totalled an estimated N17.36 trillion. Yet Open Treasury Portal records cited in April 2026 showed the Nigerian Army had received only about 26 percent of its approved 2025 expenditure, and the Air Force less than 20 percent.
The Senate itself has flagged the gap. Its Committee on Defence, chaired by Senator Ahmed Lawan, warned that delays in releasing the 2025 defence budget could hand an advantage to armed groups. “You cannot postpone the implementation of the defence budget because that gives an edge to the enemy,” Lawan said.
Independent monitors place the toll within the range Atiku cited. Amnesty International reported more than 10,000 killings by armed groups since May 2023, while a coalition of 52 civil society organisations, marking the National Day of Mourning in May 2026, put deaths at 19,980 and abductions at 12,362, with 1,486 security personnel killed and 865 students taken from schools. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project recorded 7,472 killings linked to terror groups in the administration’s first two years.
The government has rejected suggestions of neglect. Oyedele said the Ministry of Finance would publish a full account of approved, borrowed and utilised funds, and maintained that borrowing had not exceeded half the ceiling set by lawmakers. National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu has said operations killed more than 13,000 terrorists in the North East, with over 124,000 fighters and their family members surrendering.
Atiku, who emerged as the ADC candidate at the party’s May 2026 primary in Abuja, defeating Rotimi Amaechi and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, has made insecurity central to his 2027 bid. He recalled that President Tinubu built his political profile partly on criticising former President Goodluck Jonathan over insecurity.
“Nigeria does not need a president who merely mourns the dead after every massacre. Nigeria needs a president who protects the living,” he said.