The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu for unilaterally writing off the debt owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Recall that Tinubu approved the cancellation of about $1.42 billion and N5.57 trillion liabilities owed to the federation account allocation committee (FAAC) after “reconciliation.”
In a statement signed on Saturday, Bolaji Abdullahi, ADC spokesperson, said that the president lacked the constitutional mandate to take such a decision without consultation with states or endorsement from the national assembly.
“This write off was done without legislative or parliamentary approval or clear constitutional authority,” the statement reads.
The party maintained that the explanation of reconciliation does not replace constitutional provisions guiding the sharing of national revenues.
According to the ADC, the action may clear long-standing financial burdens on paper but comes at the expense of resources meant for state and local governments.
“The action effectively removes longstanding liabilities from public accounts, but at the cost of reducing the revenue base constitutionally distributable to states and local governments,” the party warned.
“It is important to emphasise that executive action cannot override the constitution.”
He noted that section 162 of the 1999 constitution requires all national earnings, including those from the oil sector, to be paid into the federation account and distributed across all tiers of government.
“The federation account is not subject to executive discretion; no president, including this one, has the unilateral authority to cancel constitutionally due revenues, and any cancellation that reduces revenue due to the states and local governments without legislative authority is unconstitutional,” he said.
Abdullahi also accused the president of consistently breaching constitutional provisions.
“Even more worrying, however, is what appears to be active collusion or wilful surrender by the national assembly,” he said.
The opposition spokesperson described the move as an “egregious assault” on the constitution, insisting it provides “sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings” against the president.
He stressed that the federation account belongs to all levels of government and cannot be subjected to the personal discretion of the federal executive.