Paul Ibe, media aide to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, issued a statement on Monday, August 10, 2026, strongly criticizing Dr. Zacch Adedeji, Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), for attempting to substitute personal habits for actual fiscal accountability.
The blowback came after an interview aired on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics on Sunday, August 9, 2026, where Dr. Adedeji defended President Bola Tinubu against public claims of executive extravagance amidst Nigeria’s ongoing economic pressures.
During the broadcast, Adedeji argued that the President lives a modest lifestyle: “Mr. President goes from home to office on foot, not even driving except when he is going to the airport… The President eats once in a day. How many parties have you seen him at in the last three years?”
In a official statement released on Monday, August 10, 2026, Ibe rejected the revenue chief’s remarks, describing them as an attempt to “romanticise” personal routine while ignoring systemic government spending.
”The Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, needs to be schooled that it is better for President Tinubu to take a helicopter to the office and eat an eight-course Chinese banquet instead of the monumental wastages in his government,” Ibe said. “What is the monetary value of his trekking and eating once a day?”
Ibe pointed to several official expenditures to argue that government administration remains wasteful despite individual claims of austerity: ₦70 billion spent acquiring luxury SUVs for National Assembly members at ₦160 million per vehicle.
Supplementary Allocations: ₦1.5 billion designated for official vehicles attached to the Office of the First Lady. He alluded to the Multi-billion naira appropriations for state house renovations, fleet maintenance, and international delegation expenses.
Ibe concluded that public policy and fiscal discipline, rather than personal fasting routines or daily walks remain the true measures of an administration’s commitment to economic relief.
