Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has rejected the Federal Government’s proposed 30-day fuel discount at NNPC filling stations, describing it as a panic-driven publicity stunt designed to temporarily placate Nigerians ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Thursday by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, said the proposed discount could not address the deepening cost-of-living crisis caused by soaring fuel prices.
He accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of subjecting Nigerians to years of economic hardship before suddenly introducing a temporary fuel relief measure as the 2027 elections draw closer.
According to him, the proposed intervention amounts to “a desperate, temporary gesture” that cannot repair the damage inflicted on households and businesses by high fuel prices.
Atiku described the plan as reckless, disgraceful and scandalous, arguing that Nigerians should not be expected to celebrate a one-month reduction after enduring years of what he called punishing fuel prices.
“Atiku totally rejects this calendar-scheduled, election-laced subsidy package. 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,” he said.
The former Vice President said the initiative was not a comprehensive economic intervention but merely “a political bandage” on a crisis which, according to him, the Tinubu administration helped create.
He questioned what would happen after the 30-day period, asking whether Nigerians would return to the same high fuel prices, expensive transportation and rising food costs.
“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.
“The government cannot manufacture relief for one month and expect Nigerians to applaud while the hardship remains,” Atiku said.
He also faulted the scope of the proposed discount, noting that it would be available only at NNPC stations.
Atiku said the government had yet to disclose the amount motorists would actually save per litre or provide guarantees that transport operators would pass any reduction in fuel costs to commuters through lower fares.
The ADC presidential candidate further argued that the sudden decision to introduce the intervention amounted to an admission that the government could provide relief despite its previous claims that meaningful fuel support was impracticable.
He described the policy shift as a “volte-face”, saying it validated his earlier proposal for targeted production support for locally refined petroleum products.
“This volte-face proves that the production-support proposal I have advanced is workable, achievable and not complicated.
“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 said.
Atiku reiterated his proposal for capped and budgeted production support tied specifically to fuel refined in Nigeria, with safeguards to ensure that the benefit reaches consumers while encouraging domestic refining.
He said Nigerians required sustainable economic relief rather than a temporary measure that would expire after one month.
“Nigerians need lasting relief, not a countdown to the return of hardship. Tinubu’s government cannot spend years telling Nigerians to endure, then offer 30 days of relief and call it a solution,” Atiku said.
He reaffirmed his commitment to reducing the economic burden on Nigerians, declaring: “Tinubu made life expensive. I will make life affordable again.”
