Atiku dismisses Tinubu’s 30-day fuel discount as “election-laced” stunt

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the federal government’s 30-day petrol discount at NNPC stations, calling it a panic-driven publicity stunt that cannot undo years of crushing fuel costs.

In a statement on Thursday by Phrank Shaibu, director of strategic communication for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential campaign council, Atiku described the measure as reckless, disgraceful and scandalous. He said it was a bid to dangle relief before Nigerians as the 2027 election approaches.

“Atiku totally rejects this calendar-scheduled, election-laced subsidy package,” the statement said. “Nigerians are not fools to be offered a month of discounted fuel after years of punishing prices and then expected to forget the hardship when the discount expires. This is shameless and heartless.”

The government announced earlier on Thursday that it would sell petrol at cost through NNPC Limited stations for 30 days, with priority for public transport operators. Finance minister Taiwo Oyedele insisted the measure was not a subsidy, saying the government was simply selling at cost.

Atiku called it a political bandage on a wound the government had created, rather than an economic plan.

“What happens on Day 31? Nigerians wake up to the same brutal prices, the same punishing transport fares and the same rising cost of food,” he said. “The government cannot manufacture relief for one month and expect Nigerians to applaud while the hardship remains.”

He pointed to gaps in the plan. The discount applies only at NNPC stations. The government has not said how much motorists will save per litre, and it has given no guarantee that savings for transport operators will reach passengers through lower fares.

“An admission of guilt”

Atiku said the government’s sudden reversal on such a sensitive issue was itself an admission of guilt. He argued it also undermined official claims that meaningful relief was impossible.

“This volte-face proves that the production-support proposal I have advanced is workable, achievable and not complicated,” he said. “The Tinubu government and its spin doctors have tried to make it sound impossible, yet they are now reaching for a temporary subsidy-style intervention because the pain has become impossible to ignore.”

He restated his plan for capped and budgeted “production support” tied to petrol refined in Nigeria. He said it would include safeguards to ensure the benefit reaches consumers and strengthens local refining.

Atiku’s pledge has pushed fuel subsidy back to the centre of the presidential race, more than three years after President Bola Tinubu scrapped it on his inauguration day in May 2023.

Other candidates have followed. Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, who long campaigned for removing the subsidy, said this week he would restore it if elected. Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party has promised petrol at ₦200 a litre within 12 months.

The Presidency has repeatedly defended the subsidy’s removal as necessary to fix longstanding distortions in the economy. Yet it has failed to show tangible benefits of the removal of subsidy to ordinary Nigerians.

“Nigerians need lasting relief, not a countdown to the return of hardship,” Atiku said. “Tinubu’s government cannot spend years telling Nigerians to endure, then offer 30 days of relief and call it a solution.”