Tinubu must prove fresh $20.52bn, €1.045bn loan not for campaign – Atiku

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Tinubu must prove to Nigerians that his request for a fresh $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion loans was for public good and not for his 2027 political campaign.

Atiku stated that the President’s failure to identify specific projects the loans would fund allegedly raises serious concerns that the borrowed funds “could be channelled through the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, now rerouted inland, to political campaigners and favoured contractors.”

The former Vice-President had earlier in the month raised the alarm that President Tinubu was reportedly preparing to borrow up to $20 billion in connection with the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway and alleged that there was pressure on lawmakers to approve the loan.

On Tuesday, President Tinubu wrote to the National Assembly seeking approval to secure fresh loans to finance projects in infrastructure, agriculture, among others.

Atiku, in a statement by the Director of Strategic Communication, ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, urged members of the National Assembly to publish the loan proposal and the supporting documents, as well as subject them to rigorous scrutiny before any decision.

According to him, “on 12 October, I warned Nigerians that President Tinubu was reportedly preparing to borrow up to $20 billion in connection with the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway. I asked him to confirm or deny the plan and publish the accounts. He did neither. Today, he has asked the Senate to approve $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion in external loans. My warning has been vindicated.

“The President has listed broad sectors but has not provided a project-by-project account of what this enormous borrowing will fund. Nigerians have not been given clear project details, costs, locations or contractors to scrutinise.

“That silence is especially troubling given the highway’s inland rerouting. Nigerians have every right to ask whether it is becoming a pipeline for borrowed money to reach Tinubu’s campaigners and favoured contractors.

“Barely 12 weeks before an election, how can the President ask lawmakers to saddle Nigerians with more than $20 billion and €1 billion in debt without identifying the projects and their costs? Is this a development plan for Nigerians or a campaign financing scheme dressed up as infrastructure?

“You cannot continue taking frivolous loans on the eve of your departure from office. Let it be on record that one of the first responsibilities I will undertake as President is to scrutinise and investigate every kobo borrowed, especially loans taken in the final year of your tenure. Nigerians will ask questions, and we will find the answers by every lawful means.”

He added: “I put local and international lenders on notice: any loan granted to this winding-down administration must meet all constitutional, statutory and due process requirements. Upon assumption of office, I will scrutinise every such loan. Any borrowing found to have been obtained without proper authorisation or process will be challenged and will not be allowed to stand.

“The National Assembly must not approve a single dollar until the President publishes every project, contract, cost, contractor, loan term and repayment obligation. No public money should be borrowed in the dark, and no lawmaker should sign a blank cheque against Nigeria’s future.”

Atiku argued that “families already struggling with a cost of living crisis should not be made to carry debts they did not approve. The woman fighting to keep her business alive and the worker spending their income just to feed deserve to know where the money is going, who will benefit and who will pay. At the ballot box, Nigerians will have the chance to reject a government that borrows against their future while taking their sacrifices for granted.”

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