Tinubu rewarding govs despite diversion of public funds - ADC’s Lukman

Salihu Lukman, a chieftain of the coalition-backed African Democratic Congress (ADC), has claimed that President Bola Tinubu has continued to reward state governors despite misappropriation and diversion of public funds allegedly by the latter.

Lukman, a former Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Governors' Forum, made the allegation while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme on Friday, August 1, 2025.

According to him, despite clear evidence of mismanagement by some governors, the President continues to approve substantial disbursements to states without necessary accountability measures.

His comments followed Tinubu's recent appeal to governors to prioritise investment in poverty alleviation in their states and ensure that governance delivers tangible benefits to citizens.

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However, Lukman expressed doubts over the President's willingness to enforce he directive, arguing that governors continue to shirk responsibility due to their firm grip on party structures.

“Yes, the president has said the right thing, but what is he doing to ensure that governors do what they need to do?” he asked.

“The president can do something, but what I see him doing is to reward them for doing the wrong things.

“Once we have a system where the structure of the party is subordinated to them, they will continue with this arrogance and continue to be unaccountable and convert public resources as if it is their personal property,” Lukman stated.

The former APC chieftain further slammed the current administration for prioritising defections of governors into the ruling party, rather than making sure they are accountable to the people who voted for them.

“For instance, when your recruitment policy in your party is blindly informed in a way that all you want is for people to come into your party without giving them the conditions that need to happen for them to be accountable to their people.

“Many of them, their objective is to be where they are and not to deliver service,” he said.

He argued that, while APC members had high hopes and full trust in their leaders, that trust has been broken, no thanks to poor leadership and lack of accountability.

Lukman added that the ADC has learnt from the APC’s mistakes and will do things differently if it produces Nigeria’s next president in 2027.

“The ADC as a coalition, I see it as a platform for struggle. We have to engage our leaders. The mistake many of us make is to imagine that leaders are rational and, left on their own, they will do the right thing.

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“Our objective of forming the coalition is to organise it in such a way that if we produce the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and governors, all those people will be accountable to the party and the party will properly direct them to deliver services based on the electoral promises as provided in the manifesto of the party,” he said.

He also dismissed concerns about the ADC’s lack of structure, describing them as mere “doomsday analysis.”