Peter Obi Accuses Tinubu Administration of N200 Trillion Debt Surge

Presidential candidate Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress accused President Bola Tinubu's administration of imprudent borrowing and a failure to maintain fiscal transparency. In a statement released on June 9, 2026, Obi alleged that Nigeria's total public debt has escalated to approximately N200 trillion, noting that over N100 trillion of this increase occurred within the last three years.

Obi contrasted these figures with the N49 trillion accumulated during the eight-year presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. Citing data from the Budget Office of the Federation, he claimed the government borrowed N11.89 trillion between January and September 2025, exceeding its own target by N1.54 trillion.

Further allegations suggest that only N3.10 trillion of those borrowed funds were allocated to capital projects, resulting in a N14.48 trillion deficit in planned capital expenditure. Obi demanded a public accounting of the remaining funds, questioning whether the money was spent on recurrent expenditures or diverted to the Renewed Hope Agenda 2027 Election Campaign Fund. The Presidency has not issued an official response.