Service-Wide Vote a lawful budget tool, APC replies Atiku

The All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday defended the N12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote (SWV) in the 2026 budget, describing it as a lawful and long-established budgetary mechanism.

The ruling party dismissed allegations by Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 poll that it was intended to fund President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election campaign.

Atiku had earlier challenged the Tinubu administration to explain the N12.8 trillion Service-Wide Vote contained in the 2026 budget, alleging that it was being set aside as a “slush fund” to finance the President’s re-election bid.

He argued that the provision lacked transparency and demanded a detailed breakdown of how the funds would be utilised.

Reacting in a statement issued in Abuja, Felix Morka, the APC National Publicity Secretary, described Atiku’s allegation as a combination of “disturbing ignorance of basic public finance principles” and “calculated mischief.”

“A Service-Wide Vote is a long-established and widely used budgetary mechanism designed to cater for government-wide obligations and unforeseen expenditures that arise after the annual budget has been passed. It is not a secret fund or an illegal slush account, as Atiku has baselessly and recklessly alleged,” the APC said.

The party said contingency arrangements such as the Service-Wide Vote are recognised fiscal instruments in many countries, adding that a politician of Atiku’s experience ought to understand their purpose.

The APC also took a swipe at the former vice president, saying, “The ghost of his sordid past haunts Atiku. A man whose reputation as a public servant is mired in some of Nigeria’s darkest episodes of corruption and profligacy attempts to smear a high-achieving administration and lecture Nigerians on fiscal responsibility.”

Defending the Tinubu administration’s fiscal record, the APC spokesman cited the expansion of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), implementation of the new national minimum wage, the Consumer Credit Scheme and the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative as examples of programmes funded to improve the welfare of Nigerians.

The ruling party maintained that President Tinubu remained focused on implementing economic reforms, strengthening institutions and delivering the Renewed Hope agenda, expressing confidence that Nigerians would distinguish “between desperate narratives and actual governance milestones” ahead of the 2027 general election.