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Alleged N8trn Secret Spending: Obi Makes Fresh Demand for Tinubu’s Resignation

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;4 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"ig2dWrF1" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa<&sol;p><div class&equals;"AR1wKCfD" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Presidential Candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress &lpar;NDC&rpar;&comma; Peter Obi&comma; has renewed his demand for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to resign&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This time around&comma; he argued that the latest disclosure by the International Monetary Fund &lpar;IMF&rpar; on Nigeria’s off-budget expenditure has reinforced concerns over accountability&comma; corruption and fiscal management under the current administration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi&comma; in a statement issued on Sunday&comma; hinged his renewed call on the IMF’s recent disclosure that public expenditure equivalent to about two per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product &lpar;GDP&rpar; in 2025 was not captured in the country’s budget&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"mtcqtEzd" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; the reported expenditure&comma; which he put at about N8&period;83 trillion&comma; was undertaken outside the approved budgetary framework and therefore escaped legislative oversight and administrative scrutiny&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;4 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Describing the development as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;horrible&comma;” Obi argued that the amount represented more than one-third of the country’s 2025 capital expenditure budget of N23&period;96 trillion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further said the figure also exceeded the combined allocations to the education and health sectors in the current fiscal year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The IMF now reveals that about N8&period;83 trillion in expenditure undertaken in 2025 is not reflected in the budget&period; This expenditure is not budgeted and is therefore not under legislative oversight or administrative scrutiny&period; This is horrible&comma;” Obi said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;4 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The former Anambra State governor maintained that prudent deployment of such resources could have significantly improved healthcare&comma; education&comma; job creation and industrial development across the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Instead&comma; he alleged that the revelation reflected a recurring pattern of financial mismanagement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is not an isolated incident&period; This is a pattern of grand corruption that has become part of this administration&comma;” he stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi also argued that persistent disregard for established public finance procedures poses serious risks to national security&comma; institutional stability and economic development&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He accused the administration of failing to prioritise the welfare of citizens despite worsening poverty and infrastructure deficits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to him&comma; a government committed to improving living conditions would ensure that resources of such magnitude were transparently managed and channelled towards critical sectors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The opposition figure said the latest disclosure further justified his earlier demand that Tinubu should vacate office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He recalled that his previous call for the President’s resignation was based on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;incompetence&comma; failure to fulfil campaign promises and inability to address insecurity and economic hardship”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi said subsequent developments&comma; particularly the IMF’s disclosure&comma; had strengthened his conviction that the administration had failed in its responsibilities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;With the daily revelations of pervasive corruption in this administration and its total lack of commitment to the welfare and security of Nigerian citizens&comma; the only reasonable action is for President Tinubu to resign from office&comma;” he said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further urged Nigerians to lawfully demand greater accountability from those in government&comma; insisting that public institutions must not allow due process in fiscal management to collapse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The renewed criticism follows comments by IMF Resident Representative in Nigeria&comma; Christian Ebeke&comma; who said last Wednesday that about two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP was spent outside the budget in 2025&comma; making the country’s fiscal deficit appear smaller than its actual borrowing requirements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The IMF official said the discrepancy suggested that the government’s financing needs were higher than reflected in official budget figures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Obi’s latest intervention also comes a day after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission &lpar;EFCC&rpar; and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission &lpar;ICPC&rpar; to investigate the off-budget spending allegation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;4 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 3&period;0&period;4 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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