Presidency Slams Atiku Over Fuel Subsidy ‘U-Turns,’ Accuses Former VP of Playing Politics
ABUJA, NIGERIA—The Presidency has again launched a scathing attack on the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, describing his recent pronouncements on the fuel subsidy regime as a reflection of deep policy confusion and “destructive populism.”
In a state house press release titled “Atiku Confused on Petrol Subsidy, Third U-Turn in One Week Shows He is Simply Playing Politics,” Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, argued that Atiku is merely capitalising on the temporary economic discomfort of citizens rather than offering workable solutions.
“Within a week, Nigerians have heard three different explanations of what an Atiku administration would do about petrol subsidy,” Onanuga stated. “The confusion has now become impossible to ignore.”
A Week of Policy Flip-Flops
The Presidency detailed what it described as a series of embarrassing policy contradictions from Atiku’s team. It referenced Atiku’s media adviser, Paul Ibe, who initially announced that Atiku would restore the petrol subsidy as a temporary intervention to allow businesses to recover before gradually phasing it out.
It also highlighted Atiku Abubakar overruling his aide and insisting his position had not changed, reaffirming that he would introduce a “targeted subsidy” to restore the purchasing power of Nigerians.
‘Market Forces Cannot Be Ordered’
The State House maintained that Atiku’s arguments betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the petroleum market. The Presidency noted that pump prices are dictated by global crude oil prices, exchange rates, shipping, and refining costs—variables that domestic competition alone cannot eliminate.
Reacting to Atiku’s assertion that fuel prices are the sole driver of the country’s cost-of-living crisis, Onanuga countered that food inflation has historically risen even when subsidies were fully active.
He listed agricultural productivity, regional insecurity, exchange rate liquidity, storage deficits, and climate flooding as the real structural drivers of inflation—issues he said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been aggressively tackling for the past three years.
In crude oil, the Presidency challenged Atiku’s proposal that his subsidy would “follow the barrel of crude,” saying his position shows a lack of basic technical awareness regarding refinery outputs.
