The Presidency has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of policy inconsistency over his promise to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the allegation in a statement on Wednesday, describing Atiku’s recent comments on subsidy as contradictory and politically motivated.
Onanuga said Nigerians had received three different explanations within a week about what an Atiku administration would do with petrol subsidy.
He said Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, initially stated that the former vice president would restore the subsidy and later phase it out after the economy recovered.
According to him, another aide, Phrank Shaibu, subsequently rejected Ibe’s position as unauthorised and misleading, explaining that Atiku would retain the subsidy until domestic refining increased, supply stabilised and market competition could guarantee affordable prices.
Onanuga said Atiku later intervened personally and reaffirmed his intention to restore what he described as a “targeted subsidy”.
“This is not merely a matter of semantics. It is a serious policy contradiction and confusion,” he said.
The presidential aide questioned why Atiku’s aides had issued conflicting explanations if the former vice president’s position had remained unchanged.
He argued that Nigerians needed clarity on how the proposed subsidy would work, including its cost, beneficiaries, funding mechanism and conditions for its eventual removal.
Onanuga also challenged Atiku’s argument that reducing petrol prices would automatically ease the cost of living, saying factors such as exchange rates, insecurity, agricultural productivity, logistics, storage, flooding and input costs also contribute to food inflation.
He further criticised the former vice president’s proposal to subsidise petrol based on crude oil, arguing that crude refining produces several other petroleum products besides petrol.
According to him, diesel, aviation fuel, kerosene, lubricants, asphalt, petroleum coke and other products also emerge from crude oil refining and have different market uses.
“Will Atiku subsidise all these by-products of the barrel as well, since kerosene is used by the underprivileged to cook, and many homes and factories use diesel to power generators and delivery trucks?” Onanuga asked.
He also questioned whether refineries receiving discounted crude would be allowed to retain profits from other refined products while government support focused solely on petrol.
The presidential aide said Atiku’s position reflected what he described as a “lack of basic understanding” of his proposed policy.
Onanuga urged the former vice president to provide Nigerians with a clear and financially sustainable petroleum policy rather than what he described as “policy somersaults, incoherence, destructive populism and election gimmicks.”
He defended the Tinubu administration’s decision to remove the petrol subsidy, arguing that the policy had helped improve government finances and stabilise the macroeconomic environment.
