Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has told President Bola Tinubu that his administration has no constitutional right to fund the construction and renovation of palaces for traditional rulers, describing the ₦22.15 billion allocated for 106 such projects in the 2026 Appropriation Act as a constitutional breach and a tool for corruption.
In a statement on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the Constitution clearly spells out the distribution of government responsibilities and does not give the Federal Government any role in building or renovating palaces belonging to traditional institutions.
“President Tinubu swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, not to amend it through the Appropriation Act. Traditional institutions are matters within the constitutional competence of state and local governments. A federal budget cannot lawfully be used to assume responsibilities that the Constitution has assigned elsewhere,” he said.
He questioned the legal basis for the spending: “Under which provision of the Constitution is the Federal Government appropriating ₦22.15 billion from the Federation Account for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces? Which Constitution is President Tinubu operating?”
Atiku argued that the 1999 Constitution never established, funded, or assigned any executive role over traditional institutions to the Federal Government. Its only mention of such institutions, he said, appears in the Third Schedule, Part II, which simply allows states to set up a Council of Chiefs to advise governors on chieftaincy and customary law matters. Beyond that limited advisory function, he said, the creation, administration and funding of traditional institutions rests entirely with state governments and their Houses of Assembly.
“President Tinubu cannot, by the instrument of an Appropriation Act, assume powers that the Constitution deliberately withheld from the Federal Government,” he said.
He said the constitutional breach is worsened by the Federal Government’s refusal to disclose the identities of the traditional rulers, the locations of the projects, and the communities involved, calling it a blank cheque for corruption. According to him, the secrecy around the allocations raises legitimate suspicion that the projects exist only on paper, and that the traditional rulers in whose names the funds were appropriated may never see any benefit.
Atiku maintained that a national budget is more than a financial statement — it is a moral and constitutional document reflecting government’s priorities.
“Our royal fathers deserve dignity and respect. They must not be used as unwilling instruments to legitimise opaque and constitutionally questionable budgetary allocations. If this administration truly respects the traditional institution, it should stop hiding behind it,” he said.
He called on the Presidency, the Budget Office, and all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to immediately publish the full list of the 106 palaces, their locations, the amount allocated to each project, the constitutional basis for the spending, and the procurement process guiding the contracts.
“The national treasury is not a Bourdillon-based private vault, and the Appropriation Act is not a license to suspend the Constitution. No government can claim to uphold the rule of law while appropriating public funds for projects it cannot constitutionally undertake and whose beneficiaries it refuses to identify,” he said.
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