The former vice-president said Tinubu’s administration had spent more than three years imposing economic hardship on Nigerians before announcing temporary relief measures as the next general election approached.
Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, who is the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 election, has accused President Bola Tinubu of copying his proposed petroleum production subsidy plan and reducing it to a temporary 30-day petrol discount, which he described as an inadequate response to Nigeria’s worsening economic hardship.
Atiku, who made the remarks on Friday during a press briefing to inaugurate the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, compared Tinubu to a student who copied another student’s examination answer so carelessly that he also copied the name at the top of the paper before demanding marks for original thinking.
The former vice-president said Tinubu’s administration had spent more than three years imposing economic hardship on Nigerians before announcing temporary relief measures as the next general election approached.
He accused the President of introducing policies that had increased the cost of living, weakened purchasing power, raised transportation costs and placed businesses under pressure through high fuel and electricity expenses.
According to Atiku, Nigerians have endured rising food prices, expensive transportation, unreliable electricity and worsening insecurity under the current administration.
“My fellow Nigerians, Bola Tinubu has had more than three years to improve our lives. What has he given us? A bag of food that costs more each time we go to the market. A journey to work that eats up our salaries. A business that cannot keep its lights on. A farm we may be too afraid to visit,” Atiku said.
“This is the cruel record he wants Nigerians to applaud. I have heard the anger in your voices, and I share it. Across this country, people are ready to stand with us and demand better. I will stand with you until we make life affordable again.”
Atiku argued that the government’s recently announced 30-day petrol discount at Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) stations, with priority given to public transport operators, amounted to a temporary measure rather than a lasting economic solution.
He also referred to the government’s proposed measure to contain petrol prices, arguing that the administration had previously dismissed his proposal to use targeted support to reduce fuel costs.
“Bola, when I proposed targeted support to ease fuel costs, you called me ignorant of economic policy. Your government said it could not be done. Now, in a desperate and clumsy retreat, you have shamelessly embraced the principle you mocked. You owe me an apology,” he said.
“But more importantly, you owe Nigerians an answer: what happens on day 31?”
Atiku insisted that his production subsidy proposal was designed to provide sustained relief by supporting petroleum products refined locally and sold to Nigerians, rather than offering a short-lived discount.
He accused Tinubu of adopting the principle behind his proposal while omitting what he described as the essential safeguards needed to make the policy effective.
“Wait a minute, Bola… You have borrowed the idea but missed the lesson. You heard ‘production subsidy’ and reduced it to a 30-day gesture. Bola, you are like a dull student who copied his classmate’s answer so blindly that he copied the classmate’s name at the top of his exam paper and then demanded marks for original thinking,” he said.
“You copied my production subsidy proposal, stripped away the part that makes it work, and handed Nigerians a 30-day discount. Where is the rest of the answer? Bola, you see why it is good to go to school!”
The ADC presidential candidate described his proposal as a long-term, targeted intervention, contrasting it with what he called the Tinubu administration’s temporary palliative presented as an economic solution.
“My production subsidy proposal is a lasting, targeted plan. Yours is a temporary palliative dressed up as a solution. Nigerians can see the difference between a leader who has done the work and a government scrambling for an election-season headline,” Atiku said.
He likened the 30-day discount to a short-lived boost that would leave households, transport operators and businesses facing the same economic difficulties once the measure expired.
“Bola, your 30-day discount is a sugar rush masquerading as economic policy: a fleeting taste of relief at the pump, followed by the same brutal crash when the month ends. Families cannot plan their meals around a temporary discount. Transporters cannot set stable fares on it. Businesses cannot invest or plan for the future on it,” he said.
“Nigerians need lasting relief through a well-designed production subsidy that supports local refining and lowers fuel costs—not a ₦50 sweetener with an expiry date.”
Atiku further accused Tinubu and his economic team of failing to consider his proposed plan despite his offer to share his economic relief programme with the President.
He said he made the offer during his State of the Nation address on September 18, 2026, but the government instead announced a 30-day petrol discount.
“You and your team should be ashamed, Bola. You have been intellectually lazy. In my last State of the Nation address, on September 18, 2026, I offered to share my economic relief plan with you,” he said.
“Instead of accepting that offer in the national interest, you gathered your team of jesters to sell Nigerians a 30-day discount that leads nowhere.”
Atiku said he was pleased that the government had apparently acknowledged the shortcomings of its economic approach but argued that the proposed relief was inadequate to address the hardship Nigerians had endured.
He accused the President of prioritising political messaging over a comprehensive response to the country’s economic difficulties.
“I offered a plan because Nigerians’ welfare matters more to me than who gets the credit. You chose to mock it, then copied it badly,” he said.
“Bola, you created the hardship and now want a medal for announcing fake relief. This is Deception 101—or, better still, yahoo-yahoo subsidy.”
He questioned why the administration expected Nigerians to celebrate a temporary discount after years of rising living costs.
“For three and a half years, your government has driven up the cost of living. Now you offer a ₦50 petrol discount for 30 days and expect applause for returning a fraction of what Nigerians have lost?” he asked.
“How can you make daily life unbearable for years and expect one month of token relief to wipe the record clean?”
Atiku also questioned how the proposed discount would translate into lower transportation fares and reduced costs for farmers, traders, manufacturers and ordinary households.
He asked the government to explain what mechanisms would ensure that public transport operators passed the benefit of the discount on to passengers.
“Do not hide behind the word ‘discount.’ You say public transport operators come first. Will fares fall? Who will enforce that? What about the farmer moving produce, the trader restocking a shop, the manufacturer running a generator, and the family paying for food?” he said.
“They all pay for fuel, even when they never fill a tank.”
The former vice-president described the announcement as an admission that the administration’s economic policies had failed to deliver the expected relief.
“Bola, what you have announced is not relief. It is a late confession of failure on the eve of a general election,” he said.
“Do you think that millions of Nigerians, whom you have condemned to poverty and hardship for three and a half years, will applaud you for failing so abysmally? You have miscalculated. Nigerians are fed up with you.”
Atiku also criticised Tinubu for blaming previous administrations for the country’s economic difficulties, insisting that the sitting President must take responsibility for the state of the economy.
“You still reach for the same old excuse. You blamed past administrations for the hardship your decisions have inflicted today. You are the President. The petrol price is your problem. The collapsing purchasing power is your problem. The shops closing under the weight of fuel and power costs are your problem,” he said.
“Take responsibility for the country you govern.”
He proposed that government support should be restricted to petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians, with a clearly defined financial ceiling, budgetary provisions and independent auditing.
“My alternative is clear. Support petroleum products actually refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians. Cap the support. Put it in the budget. Audit it independently. Exclude imports. Show the public what it costs and what they save,” Atiku said.
“Give families relief they can count on and give domestic producers a reason to produce more. That is the lesson you missed.”
He added that addressing the country’s economic challenges would require more than reducing petrol prices, arguing that food affordability, reliable electricity, employment, business growth and improved security must also be prioritised.
“Fuel is only one part of the damage. We must make food affordable, restore reliable power, put people to work and let businesses grow. We must secure the roads and farms. We must remove the obstacles that hold back young Nigerians with the talent to compete anywhere in the world,” he said.
“A speech about growth means nothing to a family that cannot afford dinner.”
The former vice-president made the remarks while inaugurating the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, where he urged members to begin mobilisation across markets, motor parks, farms, campuses and communities ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Welcoming members of the council, Atiku described them as patriots and veterans of Nigeria’s democratic journey, charging them to approach the assignment with urgency and commitment.
He said the council’s responsibility would include explaining the party’s policies to Nigerians, listening to their concerns and demonstrating how an ADC administration would address the country’s economic difficulties.
“Needless to say, you have a great deal of work to do, and your first students are Bola and his boys. Yesterday, they walked into our classroom, copied our ‘production subsidy’ from the board, and understood it in French, since their master now lives in France, and went out to announce a 30-day petrol discount,” he said.
“You must start them with elementary lessons.
“Lesson one: support goes to petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians.
“Lesson two: it must be capped, budgeted, and audited.
“Lesson three: Nigerians will still need relief after day 30.”
Atiku urged members of the campaign council to take the party’s message to every part of the country and ensure that Nigerians understood its economic proposals.
“As you round off that classroom assignment, take our campaign to every market, motor park, farm, campus, and street. Listen to Nigerians. Tell them plainly what we will do and how we will pay for it. Earn their trust,” he said.
“Let this Council be known for the work it does, not the titles its members carry. We must be ready to govern from the first day.”
He described the January 16 election, as referenced in his address, as a contest that would determine the welfare of Nigerians and the future of their families.
He called on eligible voters to retrieve their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and participate in the election, which he characterised as an opportunity to reverse the country’s economic difficulties.
“Another four years of Bola Tinubu means another four years of hunger, hardship and national decline. We must take that message to every community and mobilize Nigerians to vote for rescue, recovery and a government that will make life affordable again,” he said.
Atiku also warned that economic reforms and security policies would have little impact if Nigerians’ votes were not protected during the 2027 elections.
He called for electoral reforms that would guarantee transparency in the collation and announcement of results, including immediate public access to polling-unit results and independent scrutiny of election technology.
According to him, accredited party agents, civil society organisations and election observers should be allowed to independently verify election results and operate situation rooms without being treated as threats to the electoral process.
“Democracy is about the people’s sovereignty, and the vote belongs to them. Let me state clearly: transparency is not a crime,” he said.
“Accredited party agents, civil society organisations and observers have the right to independently verify results and operate situation rooms. They do not replace INEC; they help confirm that the national outcome reflects what was recorded at each polling unit.”
He argued that election technology should be open to public scrutiny and independent auditing to strengthen confidence in the electoral process.
Atiku listed the reforms demanded by the ADC to include the immediate publication of polling-unit results, protection of the legal rights of political parties and observers to verify results, and live broadcasts of state and national collation centres.
He also called for independent audits of election technology before and after elections, an independent commission to investigate and prosecute electoral offences, transparent electoral institutions and severe penalties for vote suppression, result tampering and fraud.
“These are not threats to democracy; they are safeguards for the people’s mandate,” he said.
The ADC presidential candidate further warned against attempts to restrict opposition candidates from campaigning in any part of the country.
He urged the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled federal and state governments to respect the constitutional rights of opposition members to move freely, express their views and campaign nationwide.
“Let the APC-controlled Federal and State Governments hear us: there will be no ‘no-go’ areas in Nigeria. Opposition members are citizens with the constitutional right to move freely, express their views and campaign anywhere in the country,” he said.
Atiku referred to an alleged attempt to prevent an opposition candidate from campaigning in Benue State, warning that such incidents must not be repeated.
“We will campaign in every state, from the creeks to the savannahs, and resist any effort to stop our candidates from reaching Nigerians. No one can partition this country or gag the opposition,” he said.
“We will defend these rights by every lawful means—in the courts, in the streets, and at the ballot box.”
Atiku called on Tinubu to step down, arguing that the President’s proposed 30-day petrol discount could not compensate Nigerians for the economic hardship they had experienced over the preceding three and a half years.
He accused the administration of running out of time and failing to demonstrate the political will, administrative experience and economic judgment needed to restore affordability and improve living conditions.
“Bola, thirty days cannot erase three and a half years of hardship. Nigerians have heard your excuses and endured your failed promises. They are ready to judge your record,” Atiku said.
“After this latest admission of failure, the honourable thing to do is step down. Nigerians deserve a government that will do the work and make life affordable again.”
