L-R Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu
The APC and President Tinubu know that the Atiku solution to subsidise production as a way of lowering the pump price and bringing down the cost of living is a bold idea and they know it resonates with the people. This is why they have been quite busy of late. They have dismissed the idea as populist or election-pandering. But as long as they are not able to offer an alternative on how to make life better for the people, it remains the only idea on the table, and Nigerians will take it.
This must be one of the most exciting moments in our politics. Perhaps, for the first time in this republic the political campaign is being anchored on an issue that is most pertinent to most Nigerians: the issue of fuel subsidy. We have the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to thank for that.
Unfortunately, the government has reacted mostly with personal abuse directed at Atiku or with statements that cynically denies the lived reality of the majority of citizens. Atiku’s subsidy declaration has effectively turned the table. The government has now found itself in opposition against a daring idea that is made popular largely due to its catastrophic mismanagement of a policy that used to be a point of consensus among presidential candidates. This administration has had three years to make the people see the wisdom in the removal of fuel subsidy, if not the full benefits, but they did not. They are not likely to achieve that before the elections.
