2027: Atiku tackles Tinubu over fuel price

Atiku Abubakar says the fuel-price dispute is not about a personal contest with President Bola Tinubu. It is about why millions of Nigerians can no longer afford basic necessities.

Through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president accused Tinubu’s administration of allowing Nigerians to endure more than three years of economic hardship while promising cheaper transport, higher food production, and relief for vulnerable people as the 2027 elections approach.

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Atiku has more important people to engage directly: the mother struggling to feed her children; the civil servant whose salary disappears into transportation; the farmer paying more to move produce to market; the student being pushed into debt simply to remain in school; and millions of Nigerians whose daily reality bears no resemblance to the prosperity advertised in your tweets.

In a statement titled “Tinubu, the issue is not Atiku, it is why Nigerians can no longer afford to live,” Shaibu said Atiku would not trade personal accusations with the president. Instead, he would continue defending policies designed to reduce living costs.

Shaibu pointed to Nigerians struggling with food, transport, farming, and education. He described a mother trying to feed her children, a civil servant whose salary disappears on transport, a farmer paying more to take produce to market, and a student pushed into debt to remain in school.

He questioned why the government had needed more than three years to recognize that economic growth must reach “the dining table and the pocket.” He also asked why an intervention became backward when Atiku proposed it but progressive when Tinubu announced it.

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Why did Nigerians have to suffer for more than three years before your government discovered that economic growth must reach ‘the dining table and the pocket’? Why is intervention backwards when Atiku proposes it, but progressive when you announce it?

The statement responded to Tinubu’s recent criticism of Atiku’s proposals to lower energy costs and his dismissal of a return to fuel subsidies. Atiku’s proposed Economic Recovery Plan would provide targeted support for Nigerian crude supplied to domestic refineries under a capped and transparently budgeted framework.

The plan would track crude deliveries, monitor refined products, and use a consumer pass-through mechanism to ensure that savings reach buyers. Shaibu said the economic logic was direct: lower fuel costs would reduce transport costs, which would lower the cost of moving tomatoes, rice, yam, livestock, and manufactured goods.

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The economics is straightforward. Reduce fuel costs, and you reduce pressure on transportation. Reduce transportation costs, and you reduce the cost of moving tomatoes, rice, yam, livestock and manufactured goods.