APC Dismisses Atiku's Claims on 2026 Budget Service-Wide Vote

The All Progressives Congress has rejected former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's assertion that the 2026 Service-Wide Vote is designed to finance President Bola Tinubu's upcoming re-election bid. In a statement released Wednesday through National Publicity Secretary Felix Morka, the party characterized Atiku's claims as baseless and lacking factual support.

Atiku had alleged that the federal budget contained unaccounted spending, pointing to what he described as a significant expansion in the Service-Wide Vote allocation. The APC countered by defending the Service-Wide Vote as an established budgetary tool used to cover government-wide obligations and unexpected expenses across multiple agencies.

The party accused Atiku of misunderstanding public finance mechanisms. The ruling party further suggested that Atiku's statements reflected a pattern of making unfounded political accusations.

According to the APC's response, the former vice president had offered no documentary proof or substantive evidence to support his allegations about campaign funding. The party described his claims as attempts to mislead the Nigerian public.

The Service-Wide Vote operates as a standard government budgeting instrument used for expenditures that span across different ministries and departments or for costs that arise unexpectedly during a fiscal year. The APC's defense maintained that the mechanism has existed long before the current administration and serves legitimate administrative functions.

Atiku, now the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, had made his initial allegations on Monday.