The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has intensified pressure on the Federal Government over Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, accusing President Bola Tinubu’s administration of withholding funds appropriated for security agencies and linking the alleged lapse to the rising wave of killings and kidnappings across the country.
The former vice president anchored his criticism on recent remarks by Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, an All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker representing Borno North, who publicly questioned the implementation of the 2025 budget and raised concerns over the release of funds meant for security operations.
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In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the intervention by the APC senator had strengthened long-standing opposition concerns about fiscal transparency, budget implementation, and the financing of security institutions.
According to him, the concerns raised by Monguno go beyond partisan politics because they originate from a senior member of the ruling party.
Atiku said, “For months, the APC dismissed every concern raised by the opposition about budget implementation, security funding and fiscal opacity as politics. Today, one of its own ranking senators has asked the very questions Nigerians have been asking.”
The former vice president argued that if appropriated funds for the armed forces and other security agencies were not released as approved by the National Assembly, government must accept responsibility for the consequences on the battlefield.
He asked whether security agencies had received the resources needed to procure equipment, improve intelligence gathering, and strengthen logistics before Nigerians continued to count casualties from terrorist attacks and mass abductions.
He said, “Every massacre should compel Nigerians to ask one simple question: were our security agencies given the resources approved by law to prevent it?”
Atiku also claimed that independent conflict monitors estimate that more than 17,000 Nigerians have died in violent attacks since the Tinubu administration came to office, while thousands of others have been abducted by terrorists, bandits, and other armed groups.
He described the casualties as evidence of a deepening national emergency rather than isolated security incidents.
The latest criticism came after the recent comments by Senator Monguno during Senate deliberations, where the lawmaker reportedly questioned alleged delays in implementing aspects of the federal budget and raised concerns over the release of capital allocations to security institutions. His intervention attracted widespread attention because it came from within the ruling APC, which now gives fresh momentum to opposition demands for greater accountability in public finance.
Atiku further argued that the current administration was falling short of standards President Tinubu himself demanded while serving in opposition.
He recalled that Tinubu repeatedly maintained before assuming office that the first responsibility of any government was the protection of lives and property, insisting that Nigerians now expect the same standard to be applied under his administration.
The former vice president also referred to his traditional title of Zege Mule U Tiv II, conferred by the Tiv Area Traditional Council in 2001, saying it symbolises leadership founded on protection rather than political power.
As of the time of filing this report, the Presidency had not issued an official response to Atiku’s latest allegations. Likewise, no official statement had been released addressing the specific concerns raised by Senator Monguno over security funding and budget implementation.
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