Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday launched a blistering attack on President Bola Tinubu, dismissing the government’s newly announced 30-day petrol discount as a desperate election-season “sugar rush” and a poorly copied version of his own production subsidy proposal.
Speaking at the inauguration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Atiku, the ADC’s presidential candidate for the 2027 election, said Nigerians had endured 1,229 days of rising costs under Tinubu and would not be swayed by temporary relief.
“Bola Tinubu has had more than three years to improve our lives. What has he given us? A bag of food that costs more each time we go to the market. A journey to work that eats up our salaries. A business that cannot keep its lights on. A farm we may be too afraid to visit,” Atiku said. “This is the cruel record he wants Nigerians to applaud.”
He accused the president of demanding “painful sacrifices from the people while you, your family, and friends are junketing all over the place,” and of only discovering Nigerians’ pain as elections approach.
Atiku focused his sharpest criticism on the 30-day discount at NNPC stations, which prioritises public transport operators. He claimed Tinubu’s team had borrowed the principle of targeted fuel support after previously dismissing his own ideas as ignorant of economic policy.
“Bola, you are like a dull student who copied his classmate’s answer so blindly that he copied the classmate’s name at the top of his exam paper and then demanded marks for original thinking,” he said. “You copied my production subsidy proposal, stripped away the part that makes it work, and handed Nigerians a 30-day discount.”
He described the measure as “a sugar rush masquerading as economic policy: a fleeting taste of relief at the pump, followed by the same brutal crash when the month ends,” and labelled it “Deception 101 — or, better still, yahoo-yahoo subsidy.”
“Nigerians need lasting relief through a well-designed production subsidy that supports local refining and lowers fuel costs — not a ₦50 sweetener with an expiry date,” Atiku declared. He outlined his alternative: support only for petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians, with the support capped, budgeted, independently audited and excluding imports.
The former vice president charged the newly inaugurated campaign council to take the message of “rescue, recovery and a government that will make life affordable again” to every market, motor park, farm, campus and street. He framed the forthcoming election as a “rescue mission” and urged Nigerians to dust off their permanent voter cards.
Atiku also demanded electoral reforms to guarantee transparency, including immediate public release of polling-unit results, live broadcast of collation centres, independent audits of election technology, and an independent commission to prosecute electoral offences. He insisted there would be “no ‘no-go’ areas” for opposition campaigning and condemned any attempt to restrict candidates, citing a recent incident in Benue.
“Bola, thirty days cannot erase three and a half years of hardship,” he said. “After this latest admission of failure, the honourable thing to do is step down. Nigerians deserve a government that will do the work and make life affordable again.”
The address marked the formal launch of Atiku’s campaign machinery under the ADC banner as the 2027 presidential race gathers pace.
