Unaccounted “security votes,” massive state budgets, and worsening violence raise questions about where the money went. Security votes spending puts state governors ‘in the eye of the storm’Following the controversies surrounding the allocation and spending of security budgets in Nigeria, state governors are under pressure to provide clarifications on how the ‘security votes’ allocated to them are being spent. In a statement on 2 June, 2026, founder of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, accused Nigerian governors of spending ‘security votes’ on frivolities. Benue State spent ₦36.87bn ($27m), Ondo spent ₦31.72bn ($23m) while Zamfara state spent ₦31.40bn ($22m). Other states with huge security budgets include Edo state that spent ₦29.21bn ($20m), Adamawa spent ₦27.00bn ($19m) and Bauchi spent ₦25.41bn ($18m).