Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has heavily criticized the Federal Government’s plan to raise a fresh bond that will increase liabilities to 4 trillion naira  to settle debts in the electricity sector. Atiku described the recurring cycle of borrowing as a “racket dressed up as reform,” raising serious questions about the transparency and management of previously approved interventions.

In a sharp public statement issued on Sunday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the opposition leader characterized the ₦4 trillion bond initiative as a scandalous display of fiscal recklessness, institutional dishonesty, and brazen contempt for public accountability. He maintained that Nigerians have every right to be outraged by what he described as a loop of borrowing, deception, and non-disclosure under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Atiku pointed out that the federal government has repeatedly announced massive funding initiatives to clear outstanding obligations to electricity generation companies (GenCos) and gas suppliers, only for the liabilities to remain unresolved. He outlined a rapid sequence of previous financial interventions that have seemingly yielded no results: On December 20, 2025, the Federal Government announced the issuance of a ₦590 billion power sector bond, assuring the public it would address the liquidity crisis and restore market confidence. Barely a month later, in January 2026, officials announced that a subsequent ₦501 billion bond under the same programme was fully subscribed and earmarked for verified obligations. By April 2026, President Tinubu approved a massive ₦3.3 trillion plan aimed at clearing the perennial power sector debts.

In his June 12, 2026 Democracy Day address, President Tinubu announced that the Presidential Power Sector Task Force had been authorized to raise a fresh ₦4 trillion bond to settle verified legacy debts.

Atiku noted that despite these trillion-naira approvals, the financial distress in the power market has only worsened. He cited recent public disclosures by the Association of Power Generation Companies, where the Chief Executive Officer, Joy Ogaji, revealed that the multi-billion naira interventions raised months ago remain unresolved and debts to operators are largely unpaid.

The former Vice President insisted that no government acting in good faith can repeatedly borrow astronomical sums to solve the exact same problem while completely refusing to account for how the previous funds were utilized. He demanded that the Tinubu administration suspend the ₦4 trillion bond issuance and present a full, detailed public account of all funds previously raised under the guise of stabilizing the electricity market before plunging the nation into further debt liabilities.