Atiku’s Petrol Subsidy: Presidency Fires Back, Raises Fresh Questions Over Former VP’s Claim
- Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga challenged Atiku Abubakar over three conflicting subsidy positions issued within a single week
- Atiku's aides gave contradictory explanations before he intervened to reaffirm what he called a 'targeted subsidy' plan
- The presidency raised detailed technical questions about how a barrel of crude oil is refined and what products Atiku's subsidy would actually cover
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President Bola Tinubu's Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has publicly challenged former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over what the presidency describes as a series of contradictory statements on petrol subsidy made within a single week.
In a statement dated August 26, 2026, Onanuga questioned whether Atiku was proposing a genuine economic policy or simply using fuel prices as a campaign tool ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Source: UGC
3 positions in one week
The controversy began when Atiku's spokesperson, Paul Ibe, said an Atiku-led administration would restore petrol subsidy and later phase it out as a temporary relief measure for Nigerians and businesses.
A second aide, Phrank Shaibu, then stepped in to describe Ibe's remarks as an "unauthorised and misleading characterisation" of Atiku's position.
Shaibu said no exit date would be fixed, and that subsidy would remain until domestic refining capacity grew, supply became stable, competition deepened, and the market could sustain affordable prices without government support.
Hours later, Atiku himself weighed in, saying his position "has not changed" and that he would restore a "targeted subsidy" if elected president.
"I will restore targeted subsidy and put purchasing power back in the hands of Nigerians," he said.
Presidency questions the economics
Onanuga said the three-way disagreement pointed to deeper policy confusion.
He argued that pump prices are shaped by international crude oil prices, exchange rates, refining costs, and logistics, none of which can be resolved by a government order to restore subsidy or by market competition alone.
He also challenged Atiku's claim that rising fuel prices directly drive food inflation. While acknowledging that energy costs affect transportation and food, Onanuga listed agricultural insecurity, exchange rate volatility, flooding, input costs, and supply constraints as equally important factors that a serious economic programme must address.
The presidential aide went further, raising technical questions about how a barrel of crude oil is processed.
He noted that petrol accounts for only about 45 per cent of refined products from a barrel, with diesel making up roughly 25 per cent, jet fuel and kerosene about 9 per cent, and the remaining volume producing plastics, lubricants, asphalt, and other materials.
Onanuga pointed out that diesel was deregulated under the Obasanjo-Atiku administration in 2004, and kerosene subsidies were fully removed by 2016.
He asked whether Atiku intended to extend his proposed subsidy to these other by-products, given that kerosene is used by low-income households and diesel powers generators and delivery trucks nationwide.
The presidency urged Atiku to spell out the cost of his proposed subsidy, identify who would benefit, explain how beneficiaries would be selected, describe how it would be funded, and state what specific conditions would bring it to an end.
"Nigerians cannot afford another opaque and potentially costly subsidy regime dressed up in new language," Onanuga said.
$16bn power allegation: Atiku dares Tinubu
Previously, Legit.ng reported that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar dared the Tinubu administration and its allies to either bring him in for investigation or stop recycling old allegations whenever his camp presses for accountability over Nigeria's public finances.
In a statement sighted by Legit.ng and signed by Phrank Shaibu, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, on Wednesday, August 26, Atiku said the sudden resurfacing of accusations about the power sector and privatisation was a deliberate attempt to change the subject away from a question his camp has been asking: what happened to the money saved after petrol subsidy was removed?
Source: Legit.ng
