Senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s allegation that the 2026 federal budget contains ₦210 trillion in duplicated allocations, describing the claim as “fallacious, baseless and should be disregarded.”
Speaking during an interview on ARISE NEWS on Monday, Nwebonyi argued that Atiku had failed to provide evidence to support the allegation, insisting that anyone making such claims must present specific facts.
“It is a common law that he who asserts owns that burden of proof. I’ve gone through the submission of the spokesperson of the man which I have respect for. I didn’t see any iota of truth in it because I expected that before you make such allegations, you should be able to run figures alongside your claim,” he said.
The senator maintained that the National Assembly approved a budget that reflected Nigeria’s needs and rejected claims that lawmakers overlooked duplicated allocations.
“However, like you all know, a budget is a policy document of a given government within a year. And the 2026 budget, as we passed, represents and reflects the need of Nigeria.”
“So the allegation being raised by the former vice president is fallacious, baseless and should be disregarded.”
Nwebonyi said he had not seen any section of the budget containing duplicated provisions and challenged critics to identify the specific items in question.
“I have not seen a section of the budget that is duplicated. I don’t know if you have seen one. If you have seen one, please run it with me, and I will respond to you. I don’t argue based on fallacy.”
Responding to questions on the Senate’s oversight role, he defended lawmakers’ handling of the appropriation process and insisted there was no evidence of duplication or manipulation.
“We have not duplicated the budget. There is no overlapping in the budget. There is no manipulation in the budget.”
Nwebonyi also said the Senate had not received any formal complaints alleging the irregularities being raised publicly.
“We don’t have any complaint before the Nigerian Senate alleging all these things you are saying here.”
He added that the Senate remained open to reviewing any proven errors if backed by evidence.
“It is when that is done that we can look at it as a body and take a decision if it is true. If it is true, definitely we are going to correct it through Corrigendum. But if it is not true… we can’t act on nothing. We can’t act on hearsay. That is my position.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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