Nigeria’s main opposition presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of copying his fuel subsidy idea, a day after the government announced a month-long petrol discount.
Speaking in Abuja on Friday at the launch of his African Democratic Congress campaign council, the former vice-president said the 30-day discount at NNPC stations was a short-term fix that would leave Nigerians facing the same prices once it ended.
He proposed a capped, audited subsidy for fuel refined in Nigeria, with imports excluded.
According to him, Bola, your government has made life unbearable and called it reform. You have demanded painful sacrifices from the people while you, your family, and friends are junketing all over the place.
“You told Nigerians to be patient as the price of petrol has pushed up the price of almost everything else. But now that an election is approaching, you have suddenly discovered their pain.
“Nigerians did not need a press conference to tell them they were suffering. They have lived it for 1,229 days since you took office. They know who made their lives difficult, and they are ready to hold you to account and mark your script.
“Yesterday, your government announced a 30-day discount on petrol at NNPC stations, with priority for public transport operators. You also proposed a measure to contain petrol prices.
“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. But more importantly, you owe Nigerians an answer: what happens on day 31?
“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.
“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!
“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.
“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. 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.
“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. 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.
“But I am glad you have finally acknowledged the failure of your approach. It is a pity you still seem to have learned nothing from it. Your stubborn pride has cost Nigerians dearly. 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.
Bola, you created the hardship and now want a medal for announcing fake relief. This is Deception 101 – or, better still, yahoo-yahoo subsidy. 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? How can you make daily life unbearable for years and expect one month of token relief to wipe the record clean?
“Nigerians are neither foolish nor forgetful. They have lived with the consequences of your decisions, and they will judge you by them. Bola, can’t you smell the coffee I am brewing? Nigerians can smell it. They know the difference between a government with a plan and a government buying time.
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?
They all pay for fuel, even when they never fill a tank, he said.
Atiku also called for polling-unit results to be made public immediately, live coverage of vote collation, and independent audits of election technology.
He said the opposition would campaign everywhere, after what he described as an attempt to stop a candidate campaigning in Benue state.
Nigeria’s presidential election is scheduled for 16 January. Mr Tinubu’s government has not yet responded to the comments.
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