Tinubu kept subsidy removal plan top secret to avoid persuasion - Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed that President Bola Tinubu deliberately concealed his decision to end the petrol subsidy regime, keeping it a "top secret" and omitting it from his inaugural speech to preempt any persuasion against the move. Shettima made this revelation during a courtesy visit by state governors to the President in Lagos for Eid el-Kabir festivities and the administration's third anniversary.

“

Your Excellency, the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, you kept it a top secret; it wasn’t part of your speech. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. You had made that decision and kept it close to your heart because you believed if you had incorporated it into your speech, some people would try to persuade you not to do so.

"Your Excellency, the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, you kept it a top secret; it wasn’t part of your speech," Shettima stated. He characterized the decision not as a "spur-of-the-moment" action but as a carefully considered move that Tinubu "kept close to his heart." The Vice President lauded this approach as embodying "the courage of leadership," "the audacity of hope," and "the effrontery to see into the future."

Shettima defended the administration's economic restructuring over the past three years, asserting that Tinubu inherited a nation in need of fundamental repair. He described the situation as requiring a "builder with the courage to examine the foundation," rather than just a "painter." According to Shettima, Tinubu confronted the nation's long-standing contradictions, choosing to initiate a "difficult work of re-engineering a nation" rather than postpone necessary reforms. He framed the current period not as a "banquet" but as a "battlefield," a "covenant with the future."

“

You did not come to power at the season of ease. You came at a time when the house required more than a painter. It required a builder with the courage to examine the foundation. You inherited a nation standing before difficult questions, a nation trapped between the comfort of old illusions and the necessity of a new beginning. In that defining hour, you choose not to postpone the surgery. You choose not to massage the wound. You choose to confront the contradictions that have held this country hostage for 50 years. That, Mr President, is the miracle of your courage. What you have done is not simply to administer a government. You have begun the difficult work of re-engineering a nation. It’s not a banquet. It is a battlefield. It is not a picnic for the pain-hearted. It is a covenant with the future.

President Tinubu himself defended the subsidy removal, asserting it saved Nigeria from imminent bankruptcy and that the reform period is now yielding tangible benefits for both states and citizens. During the meeting, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors' Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, reportedly declared that the governors had awarded the President's performance a perfect score of 100%. Uzodimma credited Tinubu with recovering Nigeria "from the road of collapse to that of stability and survival."

“

he recovered Nigeria from the road of collapse to that of stability and survival.