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The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, following the ongoing probe of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
CHRICED Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, at a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, said it was not enough for the police to arrest Adeniyi Adeyemi, adding that all those mentioned in the allegations should be investigated accordingly.
Zikirullahi also accused the Federal Government of deepening fiscal recklessness, violating constitutional provisions and weakening democratic institutions, urging President Bola Tinubu to restore accountability and investigate what he described as widespread budget irregularities.
He claimed that Nigeria’s democracy was facing one of its most critical tests due to what he described as failures in governance, fiscal discipline and respect for constitutional principles.
He alleged that the 2026 Appropriation Act exposed serious distortions in the country’s budgeting process, citing an analysis by BudgIT’s Tracka, which showed that ₦8.05 billion was allocated for the construction and furnishing of churches and mosques through ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) whose mandates do not cover religious infrastructure.
According to him, the allocations included ₦6.14 billion for 52 mosque-related projects and ₦1.91 billion for seven church projects, while the Office of the Deputy Speaker allegedly earmarked ₦780 million for church musical instruments.
Zikirullahi questioned the rationale behind such expenditures at a time millions of Nigerians face hunger, unemployment and poor access to healthcare and education, arguing that the allocations contradicted Section 10 of the Constitution, which prohibits the adoption of any religion as a state religion.
He also criticised what he described as wasteful government spending, including ₦500 million reportedly used for an international communications campaign to counter allegations of religious persecution, a $9 million contract awarded to a United States lobbying firm to improve Nigeria’s image abroad, and a ₦6.44 billion allocation for FIFA World Cup qualifying activities despite Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the tournament.
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The CHRICED Executive Secretary also accused the government of diverting funds meant for the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education.
He alleged that of the commission’s ₦22.8 billion allocation, billions were channelled to road projects and other unrelated programmes in Ogun, Katsina and Ekiti states instead of supporting the education and welfare of out-of-school children.
Among the projects he listed were ₦1.4 billion for roads in Abeokuta, ₦1.05 billion for roads in Ipokia Ward 2, ₦1.4 billion for roads in Imeko and Idogo, ₦1.05 billion for internal roads in Katsina, ₦700 million for solar streetlights and another ₦700 million for women and youth empowerment tools.
Describing the development as “wickedness and inhumanity,” Zikirullahi said the government was neglecting vulnerable children while insecurity continued to threaten access to education.
On the economy, he expressed concern over Nigeria’s rising debt profile, noting that public debt had reached ₦159.28 trillion despite the removal of fuel subsidy, increased taxation and official claims of improved revenue generation.
He questioned why ministries and agencies continued to complain of poor budget releases and why government borrowing had continued to rise despite higher revenues.
According to him, the repeated extension of previous budgets into subsequent fiscal years had weakened legislative oversight and undermined the integrity of Nigeria’s annual appropriation process.
He maintained that the proposed creation of state police would fail unless underlying challenges, including poor funding of the Nigeria Police Force, dependence of states on federal allocations, proliferation of arms and political militias, were first addressed.
