Abiodun’s Last Loot: ₦200bn Bond With 2 Months Left In Budget, 6 Months Left In Office

The people of Ogun State are watching a secretive, deliberate, calculated attempt to empty the treasury and saddle the next administration with crushing debt. Governor Dapo Abiodun is racing to raise ₦200 billion through a bond with only about two months remaining in the life of the 2026 budget and roughly six months left before his government ends in May 2027. This is not development. It is a last-minute financial ambush.

BudgIT’s 2026 State of States report already places Ogun’s debt stock at ₦538.92 billion, the fourth highest among the states assessed, and ranks the state a miserable 31st out of 35 in fiscal performance. Adding another ₦200 billion, at an undisclosed rate and on undisclosed terms, will push the state’s debt profile sharply higher. The repayment burden, the interest, and the opportunity cost will not fall on Abiodun. They will fall on the next governor, on the next House of Assembly, and on every resident of Ogun State for years after he has left office.

What exactly is this money for?

With only two months left in the 2026 budget year, no serious capital project can be properly conceived, procured, mobilised and substantially executed before the books close. The claim that this bond is for “infrastructure” or “legacy projects” does not survive basic scrutiny.

The debt does not match the infrastructure on the ground.

Ogun already carries one of the heaviest debt burdens relative to its size and revenue base. Yet many communities still live with incomplete roads, unreliable electricity, under-equipped health centres and schools that have not seen meaningful intervention. Contractor arrears and pension liabilities remain large. The much-publicised private-sector projects (ports, LNG, industrial zones) are largely equity-driven by external investors and do not require the state to borrow ₦200 billion at this late stage. Borrowing this sum now, on top of an existing ₦539 billion debt, is not investment in the people. It is the creation of a debt trap for whoever his successor is.

The treasury is already being cleared.

Insider accounts from within the system indicate that the clearing of the treasury has intensified. Cash is being drawn down aggressively, contracts are being inflated or rushed, and obligations are being created that the next administration will have to honour. A ₦200 billion bond raised with two months left in the budget and six months left in the government is the final and most dangerous stage of this process. Once the money is raised and the bond is issued, the debt is locked in. The cash can be spent or diverted long before the next governor is sworn in.

Hard questions that must be answered immediately:

1. What specific projects will be funded by this ₦200 billion, and which of them can be completed or substantially advanced before the 2026 budget ends in two months?
2. ⁠What is the exact interest rate, tenor, and security for the bond? Who are the arrangers and the intended subscribers?
3. ⁠Why is this borrowing being pursued so late in the administration’s life when the 2026 budget already contains large capital provisions and the state already has approved borrowing capacity?
4. ⁠What will the incoming administration be left with; an empty treasury, a higher debt stock, or both?
5. ⁠Has the House of Assembly been given full details of the purpose, the drawdown schedule, and the expected impact on debt service in 2027 and beyond?
6. ⁠Why has the governor not publicly disclosed the full terms and the precise use of proceeds at a time when the state already ranks near the bottom in fiscal performance?

All governorship candidates have every right, and every political and moral duty to demand full disclosure before any further step is taken.

Silence at this stage will be read as acceptance of a debt that will constrain his own ability to govern. Even the short man called YAYI must ask these questions now, publicly and forcefully, not after the money has been raised and the treasury has been emptied.

We, the undersigned leaders, stakeholders and members of the Ijebu Democratic Stakeholders Forum (A coalition of concerned leaders, elders and stakeholders from the Ijebu axis of Ogun State), state without equivocation:

• This ₦200 billion bond must be halted immediately.
• ⁠The books must be opened. The purpose, the rate, the security, the arrangers and the expected beneficiaries must be published.
• ⁠The systematic clearing of the treasury in the final months of this administration must stop.
• ⁠Ogun State must not be sold or mortgaged to satisfy the exit strategy of one administration.

Ogun people must rise. The House of Assembly must refuse any further rubber-stamp approval. Traditional rulers, market associations, professional groups, civil society and ordinary citizens must demand answers. APC has governed this state for years; it must not be allowed to finish it. Debt is not development. An empty treasury is not a legacy. A bond raised with two months left in the budget and six months left in the government, without transparent and credible justification, is an assault on the future of Ogun State.

We will not be silent while our state is mortgaged. The people of Ogun state, deserve better than to be left holding the bag for Abiodun’s final raid.

Signed:
Ijebu Democratic Stakeholders Forum
(A coalition of concerned leaders, elders and stakeholders from the Ijebu axis of Ogun State)
November 2026

…. WHO WILL STOP ABIODUN BEFORE HE EMPTIES OGUN?

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