Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to act on the Federal Audit Service Bill within seven days or resign, accusing him of indifference to constitutional discipline months after the bill was transmitted by the National Assembly.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku cited Section 58(4) of the Constitution, which requires the President to either assent to or withhold assent from a bill within 30 days of receiving it. “That provision is neither decorative nor discretionary. It is a constitutional command. The framers of our Constitution never envisaged a President who would simply sit on legislation indefinitely while governance drifts without certainty or accountability,” he said.
Atiku argued that the delay is especially troubling given what the bill is meant to achieve, modernising Nigeria’s audit architecture, strengthening the independence of the Auditor-General, and improving oversight of public spending. Sitting on legislation designed to reinforce transparency, he said, sends the wrong signal at a moment when Nigerians are pushing for stronger institutions. “Every major scandal begins with a smaller act of institutional neglect. It begins when constitutional provisions are treated as optional, when oversight institutions are weakened and when those entrusted with enforcing the law become comfortable operating outside its clear boundaries,” he said.
He tied the delay directly to the recent controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, arguing that regardless of what investigations into that episode ultimately reveal, it has already exposed how weak institutional safeguards, conflicting official accounts and eroding public confidence can combine to produce governance failures. “If constitutional timelines can be ignored without consequence, if accountability legislation can remain unattended beyond the period contemplated by the Constitution, and if institutions responsible for safeguarding public resources are denied the reforms they require, then no Nigerian should be surprised when controversies emerge over public institutions, government approvals and official processes,” he said, warning that treating one constitutional obligation as negotiable inevitably erodes respect for every other constitutional safeguard.
Atiku gave Tinubu seven days to comply with Section 58(4), either by assenting to the Federal Audit Service Bill and formally explaining any decision to withhold assent to the National Assembly and the public, or by voluntarily leaving office.
