The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the National Assembly of complicity in Nigeria’s escalating debt burden under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Bolaji Abdullahi, the party’s national publicity secretary, faulted House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas for retracting his earlier admission that the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio had exceeded statutory limits, now standing at 52 percent.
Abdullahi described Abbas’s withdrawal as “political cowardice and legislative complicity,” noting that his initial remarks were “a rare moment of honesty” about the nation’s fiscal challenges.
“Like a flame in the wind, the Speaker’s statement offered a momentary flicker of truth, only to be quickly doused by political expediency. Rather than stand by his remarks and the Nigerian people, he chose the comfort of political correctness,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC also criticised what it called contradictions within the Tinubu administration. Abdullahi pointed out that while the president assured Nigerians that borrowing had ended, his government sought approval for a $1.75 billion loan from the World Bank less than a week later.
He further accused the 10th National Assembly of approving fresh loans without rigorous scrutiny, calling it a betrayal of its constitutional duty to check executive excesses.
“The Speaker was right the first time — our debt is out of control, and our children’s future is being written in red ink,” Abdullahi warned.
The party called for fiscal discipline, transparency, and robust public debate around borrowing, insisting that loans must be tied to measurable outcomes such as job creation and domestic resource mobilisation.
“Let the record reflect that when the opportunity came to speak truth to power, some chose silence, some chose survival, but the ADC chose to stand with the Nigerian people,” Abdullahi concluded.
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