By Omeiza Ajayi ABUJA: The ruling All Progressives Congress APC has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his allegation that the 2026 budgetary Service-Wide Vote, SWV, was set aside to fund President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 reelection campaign, describing the claim as either mischievous or a reflection of ignorance of basic public finance principles. In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the party said the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC had become more disoriented and misguided than ever before in the history of his presidential ambitions, adding that Atiku advanced no facts to support his claim beyond conjecture calculated to inflame and mislead Nigerians. APC explained that a Service-Wide Vote is a long-established budgetary mechanism designed to cater for government-wide obligations and unforeseen expenditures that arise after the annual budget has been passed, and not a secret fund or illegal slush account as alleged by Atiku. “You would think that a former Vice President, a man with the longest-standing ambition to be president of Nigeria, would understand the concept and instrument of a ‘Service-Wide Vote’, an elementary principle of public finance. 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. Similar contingency arrangements exist in virtually all major economies and democracies of the world. A Service-Wide Vote is not a secret fund or an illegal slush account, as Atiku has baselessly and recklessly alleged,” said party spokesman, Felix Morka. The APC spokesman said Atiku’s own record in government made his attempt to lecture Nigerians on fiscal responsibility ironic, describing his public service history as mired in corruption and profligacy. “As a serial presidential contestant, Atiku has never once articulated a clear vision or coherent plan for Nigeria’s development but has remained a petty peddler of fake news and doomsday narratives. Spewing baseless and inflammatory allegations without justification is utterly irresponsible and unbecoming of a former Vice President,” he said. APC listed several interventions he said demonstrated the Tinubu administration’s fiscal responsibility, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund NELFUND, which he said has enabled close to two million students to access higher education, the implementation of the new national minimum wage, the Consumer Credit Scheme, and the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas CNG Initiative aimed at reducing transportation costs. It added that the administration had also rolled out food and other palliatives for vulnerable households, alongside increased investments in infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, and industrial expansion to create jobs, as well as tax reforms designed to ease the burden on low-income Nigerians. According to the party, the Tinubu administration remained focused on the Renewed Hope Agenda, rebuilding the economy and deepening institutional reforms. The post Service-Wide Vote not slush fund, APC lectures Atiku appeared first on Vanguard News.
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