Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the President Bola Tinubu administration’s allocation of ₦22.15 billion in the 2026 Budget for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces for traditional rulers as a constitutional aberration and an instrument for illegality and official corruption.
He asserted that Nigeria’s Constitution is unambiguous on the distribution of governmental responsibilities and does not mandate the Federal Government to construct or renovate palaces belonging to traditional institutions.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) spoke up in a a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
“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.
According to him, the question before Nigerians is straightforward. “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?”
“The 1999 Constitution did not establish, fund or assign any executive responsibility over traditional institutions to the Federal Government. Indeed, its only reference to traditional institutions is in the Third Schedule, Part II, where it merely permits states to establish a Council of Chiefs to advise their governors on chieftaincy and customary law matters.
“Beyond this limited advisory role, the Constitution leaves the creation, administration and funding of traditional institutions to state governments and the laws enacted by their respective 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.
Atiku pointed out that the constitutional breach is compounded by the refusal of the Federal Government to disclose the identities of the traditional rulers, the locations of the projects and the communities where the palaces are located, describing it as a blank cheque for corruption.
Atiku noted that the secrecy surrounding the allocations creates the legitimate suspicion that the projects exist only on paper and that even the traditional rulers in whose names the funds were appropriated may never benefit from them.
He said a national budget is more than a financial statement, but a moral and constitutional document that reflects the priorities of government.
“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 challenged the Presidency, the Budget Office and all relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies MDAs to immediately publish the complete list of the 106 palaces, their locations, the amounts allocated to each project, the constitutional basis for the expenditure and the procurement process through which the contracts will be awarded.
