Atiku Accuses Tinubu of Running 2 Economies, "Tinubu Did Not Remove Subsidy"
- Atiku's spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, released a statement on August 23, 2026, challenging Tinubu's claim that petrol subsidy has been fully removed
- The statement pointed to NNPC's 2024 audited accounts, which recorded about ₦7.13 trillion in energy-security expenses after subsidy was declared gone
- Atiku's camp accused the Tinubu administration of offering petroleum investors tax credits of up to $11.50 per barrel while rejecting relief for ordinary Nigerians
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FCT, Abuja - The ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu's administration of running what he calls selective economics, offering generous fiscal incentives to major petroleum investors while insisting that ordinary Nigerians absorb the full pain of market-priced fuel.
The former Vice President said Tinubu's claim to have abolished petrol subsidy is contradicted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company's own financial records.
Source: Twitter
The accusation came in a statement released on Sunday, August 23, 2026, by Phrank Shaibu,
Atiku's Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, made this known in a statement issued and made available to Legit.ng on Sunday, August 23, 2026,
This is coming days after the former vice president unveiled his Atiku Economic Recovery Plan.
NNPC accounts at centre of dispute
Shaibu noted that NNPC's 2023 accounts recorded about N4.84 trillion in energy-security expenses and related shortfalls, and that its 2024 audited financial statements put the figure at approximately N7.13 trillion under the same heading.
"NNPC itself explained that this expense arises partly from the difference between the exchange rate used to determine the regulated PMS ex-coastal price and the prevailing exchange rate when the import obligation is settled.
"In plain English, government was still absorbing a price differential after Tinubu had triumphantly announced that subsidy was gone."
Shaibu argued that renaming the expense "energy-security costs" or "shortfall" rather than subsidy does not change the economic reality. "Nigerians do not eat semantics," he wrote.
Tax credits for investors, hardship for citizens
The statement also pointed to what it described as a glaring double standard in the administration's approach to government intervention.
Under Tinubu's Deep Offshore Oil and Gas Projects Incentives framework, the statement said qualifying petroleum developments can receive production tax credits starting at $3 and $4.50 per barrel
Atiku's aide said that supplementary credits are capable of pushing the combined benefit to as much as $11.50 per barrel in qualifying circumstances.
"Apparently, subsidy is only evil when poor Nigerians benefit from it."
Shaibu said the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan does not propose a return to the opaque and unlimited subsidy arrangements of the past.
Instead, it calls for a targeted, capped and independently audited intervention with a defined exit plan, alongside accelerated domestic refining, investment in mass transportation and steps to restore household purchasing power.
"You cannot subsidise capital and criminalise relief for citizens. Economic reform is not a competition over how much suffering a President can impose on his citizens."
The statement also called on the Tinubu administration to publicly disclose the identities of beneficiaries of petroleum tax credits and concessions, the total value of revenue surrendered, and proof of investments delivered in return.
"Tinubu must come clean on the cost of these concessions," Shaibu wrote. "These concessions belong to the Nigerian people and must never become instruments of patronage dispensed behind closed doors."
Atiku vows to remove subsidy
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Atiku said he would bring back the petrol subsidy if he wins the 2027 election.
Atiku questioned where the funds saved from subsidy removal went, accusing those in government of stealing the money.
Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said subsidy removal generated N15.8 trillion for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Source: Legit.ng
