Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed serious concern over the inclusion of N6.44 billion in the 2026 federal budget for a “Special Presidential Support Group for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.”
The allocation has drawn scrutiny because Nigeria had already been eliminated from the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign by the time the budget was presented.
In a statement issued on Wednesday through his spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku questioned the rationale behind the expenditure.“How does a serious government budget N6.44 billion for presidential support for World Cup qualifiers after the country had already been eliminated? What competition was the money intended to support? Who inserted the provision, who approved it, and who was expected to benefit from an expenditure whose stated purpose had already ceased to exist?” Atiku asked.
He described the allocation as more than poor planning, calling it “a damning indictment of the integrity of the budgeting process.” According to Atiku, it strengthens public suspicion that the national budget is increasingly being used as a vehicle for dubious expenditures, fiscal waste, and allocations lacking genuine public purpose.
The World Cup budget item comes amid ongoing controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC). On Tuesday, police arrested Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the Director General of the agency, which itself received a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 budget.
Atiku called for an independent investigation into both the PFIPC matter and the N6.44 billion World Cup allocation.
“The scandal is not merely that one man allegedly impersonated public authority. The greater scandal is that the Tinubu administration allegedly opened the doors of the Nigerian state to him, allowed him to acquire the appearance and privileges of official legitimacy, and permitted him to interact with institutions and diplomatic interests in the name of the Federal Government,” he added.
This latest criticism adds to Atiku’s repeated calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of public funds under the current administration. As of now, the federal government has not issued an official response to Atiku’s queries on the World Cup budget line.
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