For decades, Nigeria’s petrol subsidy regime was a fiscal vampire, draining billions of dollars annually from the public treasury while enriching a parasitic cabal of smugglers and rent-seekers. When President Bola Tinubu took the courageous decision to abolish this corrupt system on 29 May 2023, he did what previous administrations, including the one in which Atiku Abubakar served as Vice President, lacked the fortitude to do. Yet today, the same Atiku who once championed subsidy removal as the cornerstone of his economic manifesto now campaigns to restore it. This is not leadership; it is the desperate vituperation of a greedy octogenarian whose fading presidential ambition has degenerated into a reflex of contrarian posturing.
Atiku’s hypocrisy is startling. During the 2023 election campaign, he argued with unyielding conviction that the opaque, corruption-ridden import subsidy was bleeding Nigeria dry. His own media adviser, Paul Ibe, has acknowledged that Atiku supported the removal of subsidies in 2023. Now, with another election cycle approaching, he has engineered a shameless volte-face. The Accord Party presidential candidate, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has rightly described Atiku as the “father of subsidy removal” in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, condemning his recantation without apology as dishonesty. Even the Presidency has accused Atiku of playing politics with the nation’s economy, warning that his vacillation exposes a man willing to burn down national economic stability for a fleeting headline.
What makes Atiku’s U-turn particularly egregious is that the international community has unequivocally endorsed Tinubu’s reforms. The International Monetary Fund has commended Nigeria’s bold economic measures, describing the removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the foreign exchange market as essential to addressing unsustainable macroeconomic conditions. The World Bank has projected that Nigeria will save over $28 billion in two years from scrapping petrol subsidies. France’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, has lauded the reforms for creating fresh opportunities for investment across multiple sectors. Credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings upgraded Nigeria’s outlook to stable on the back of Tinubu’s reforms. These are not partisan endorsements; they are the verdict of global financial institutions that recognise the necessity of this difficult but transformative policy.
The tangible results are equally compelling. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, federal petroleum savings surged by over 500%, leaping from ₦154 billion to ₦836 billion. State governments have used these massive inflows to clear ₦1.85 trillion in backlogged debts, stabilise payrolls, and kickstart stalled regional projects. Inflation has dropped steadily from a record 34.8% in December 2024 to 20.12% by August 2025, the lowest in more than two years. The naira has strengthened, and foreign investors are returning to the local debt market for the first time in years. The Nigerian Education Loan Fund has disbursed over ₦206 billion to more than 1.1 million students. These are not abstract statistics; they are the building blocks of a new Nigeria.
Yes, the transition has been painful. Yes, Nigerians have endured hardship. But true leadership requires the courage to defend difficult, foundational reforms even when the political weather is rough. President Tinubu has demonstrated that courage. He has stopped the bleeding, freed trillions of naira for investment in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, and begun the long march toward economic self-sufficiency. To reverse these gains now, as Atiku proposes, would be nothing short of national economic suicide. Nigerians must reject this sordid narrative of regression. The future belongs not to those who pander to populist illusions, but to those who have the vision and the fortitude to build. President Tinubu has chosen the path of national renewal. Atiku, in his desperation, has chosen the path of political opportunism. The choice for Nigeria could not be clearer.