The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organization (MDPCO) has rejected the Presidency’s denial of claims by Allied Peoples Movement (APM) presidential candidate and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde regarding Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends due to the states.
In a statement, the campaign accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of relying on distortions, unsupported figures and propaganda rather than addressing the core issues raised by Makinde. It challenged the Presidency to publish the relevant NLNG dividend receipts, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) decisions and official communications showing the amounts received, the sums approved for distribution, and the timing of any proposed payments to the states.
“Instead of coming clean on why the fund is withheld, the Tinubu Presidency… left the issue to play around with unsupported figures in the bid to hoodwink Nigerians and divert public attention from this constitutional violation and assault on the states,” the statement said.
MDPCO posed three fundamental questions it said Nigerians deserve clear answers to: how much NLNG paid in dividends during the period under discussion; how much was credited to the Federation Account; and how much was approved for distribution to the states. It argued that citing cumulative NLNG payments over 25 years does not answer whether a specific payment was proposed, approved, received, delayed or withheld.
The campaign also dismissed the Presidency’s arithmetic that allocating ₦250 billion to each of the 36 states would total ₦9 trillion, describing it as irrelevant to the actual sums under discussion as recorded in official documents.
“If the Tinubu Presidency claims that Engr Makinde is wrong in his assertion that ₦250 billion NLNG dividend meant for states is being withheld, we challenge President Tinubu to directly tell Nigerians if the said dividends have been paid to the states rather than resorting to personal attacks,” the statement added. It further questioned whether the Federal Government has any constitutional power to withhold funds accruing to the states in a federation.
The exchange follows Makinde’s allegation on Friday at a 2027 budget stakeholders’ consultative meeting in Ibadan that the Federal Government is deliberately delaying the release of NLNG dividend funds to the states until after the 2027 elections and has already spent the money. The Presidency denied the claims on Sunday.
MDPCO maintained that demanding accountability for public funds remains a civic right and that Makinde’s presidential ambition does not strip him of that right or exempt the