By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
The Presidency has taken a swipe at the recent comment credited to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to the effect that he will restore petrol subsidies if elected President in 2027.
The comment has drawn sharp criticism from the Presidency, which accuses the former vice‑president of a desperate and regressive volte‑face.
The Presidency, in a statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku — who once argued for subsidy removal — has opportunistically recanted that position five months before the election.
It said: “Against expectations that he would announce a more creative and ingenious alternative to the programme being executed by the Tinubu administration, Atiku Abubakar behaved like a man from an archaic past who least comprehends the present economic dynamics and suggested that he would restore the much-abused, wasteful, pillaged, corruption-ridden fuel subsidy regime, which the Petroleum Industry Act made illegal from the end of June, 2023.
