THE African Democratic Congress (ADC) has condemned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s approval of the cancellation of legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to the Federation Account, warning that the move is unconstitutional and financially harmful to states and local governments.

In a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, the ADC argued that up to 96 per cent of the dollar-denominated debts and 88 per cent of the naira-denominated debts were removed by executive directive without legislative approval, in violation of Section 162 of the Constitution.

The party accused President Tinubu of repeatedly breaching the Constitution and criticised the National Assembly’s silence in the face of what it called a serious constitutional breach.
According to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the development calls for deep concerns, stressing that the action of the President was potentially harmful to the economy.

The President has approved the cancellation of legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to the Federation Account.

The development involves the presidential approval of the cancellation of legacy debts previously reported as outstanding, including those arising from production sharing contracts, domestic supply obligations, royalty receivables, and other legacy balances.

According to official documents presented to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), the President approved the removal from the Federation Account books of approximately $1.42 billion (USD) and N5.57 trillion (NGN) in legacy NNPC debt following a reconciliation of records with regulators. This directive covers outstanding liabilities accumulated up to 31 December 2024.