Newly formed opposition coalition the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has launched its most severe constitutional challenge against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, formally calling for his impeachment following a controversial executive order to write off massive state oil company debts.
In a statement released on Saturday, the ADC’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, declared the President’s approval to cancel N7.6 trillion in legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) to the Federation Account as a “grave violation” of the 1999 Constitution.
The party asserts that this unilateral action provides sufficient grounds for the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings.
The debt waiver, first reported by Spear News, involves the removal of approximately $1.42 billion and N5.57 trillion from the Federation Account’s books.
President Tinubu approved the cancellation following a reconciliation of records with regulators, covering liabilities accumulated up to December 31, 2024.
The core of the ADC’s argument rests on Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates that all federation revenues be paid into the Federation Account and shared among federal, state, and local governments.
“The Federation Account is not subject to executive discretion. No President, including this one, has the unilateral authority to cancel constitutionally due revenues. Any cancellation that reduces revenue due to the States and Local Governments without legislative authority is unconstitutional”, the ADC statement reads.
The opposition party highlighted that nearly 96% of the dollar-denominated obligations and 88% of the naira balances were written off by “executive directive,” done without the approval of the National Assembly.
The ADC accused the National Assembly of “active collusion or wilful surrender” for failing to check the executive’s action. The statement expressed deep concern over what it described as a pattern of constitutional violations by the Tinubu administration.
“We have said it before, and we will say it again, President Tinubu has repeatedly violated the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the ADC stated. “Ordinarily, these egregious assaults on the Constitution should be sufficient grounds to commence impeachment proceedings.”
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