.Says Nigerians cannot be asked to forget 2022 position
..‘Atiku now campaigning against Atiku’
.Group demands cost, funding details of subsidy restoration

The Coalition for Tinubu-Okpebholo-Nigeria has criticised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over the opposition’s emerging position on petrol subsidy ahead of the 2027 presidential election, describing it as a contradiction that requires a clear explanation.

The coalition said Nigerians deserved to know what had changed between Atiku’s position during the 2023 presidential campaign and the African Democratic Congress (ADC)’s current proposal to restore some form of petrol subsidy if it takes power in 2027.

Atiku, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), repeatedly advocated the removal of petrol subsidy during the campaign.

In July 2022, the former Vice President described subsidy removal as “inevitable”, although he argued that it should be implemented through negotiations with organised labour and other stakeholders. Later that year, he said his administration would move on the subsidy question within its first 100 days.

At another economic forum in Lagos, Atiku said he would complete the phased removal of subsidy and redirect the resources to other sectors of the economy, describing the subsidy arrangement as a “fraud”.

But the ADC, the opposition platform with which Atiku is now associated ahead of 2027, has indicated that it would restore targeted petrol subsidy for low-income and commercial transport operators if it wins the next presidential election.

Reacting on Thursday, spokesman of the Coalition for Tinubu-Okpebholo-Nigeria, Mr. John Mayaki, said the apparent contradiction had created what he described as an “Atiku versus Atiku” contest.

He said: “In 2022, candidate Atiku was emphatic. Petrol subsidy had to go. He described the arrangement as fraudulent and presented its removal as part of the economic surgery Nigeria required.

“Today, the political platform with which he is associated is talking about bringing subsidy back. Nigerians are entitled to ask a very simple question: what changed?

“Did subsidy suddenly become economically sensible, or did it become unacceptable only because President Bola Tinubu was the one who eventually summoned the courage to remove it?”

Mayaki said the coalition was not suggesting that politicians could never revise their positions, adding that changing economic circumstances could legitimately produce changes in policy.

He, however, maintained that such a major reversal must be accompanied by convincing explanations rather than campaign rhetoric.

“If Atiku or his political platform now believes subsidy should return, Nigerians deserve the arithmetic,” he said.

“How much will it cost? Who qualifies? Where will the money come from? How will another subsidy regime avoid the leakages and abuses Atiku himself previously condemned?

“And if the old subsidy arrangement was fraudulent when Atiku wanted to become President in 2022, Nigerians deserve to know what economic miracle has transformed its restoration into good policy four years later.”

The coalition said Atiku was within his rights to criticise the manner in which the Tinubu administration removed subsidy, including its timing, cushioning measures and the subsequent cost-of-living pressures.

It, however, argued that criticism of implementation was different from reversing the fundamental economic position Atiku had previously championed.

“President Tinubu must be judged by the consequences and results of the reforms he implemented. Nobody disputes that,” Mayaki said.

“But Atiku cannot demand accountability from Tinubu while asking Nigerians to forget Atiku.

“The newspapers remember. The television interviews remain. The internet remembers. Nigerians remember.

“In 2022, the message was: remove subsidy. Ahead of 2027, the opposition conversation is increasingly about restoring subsidy.

“The question is no longer merely Atiku versus Tinubu. On this issue, it is becoming Atiku versus Atiku.”

The coalition urged the former Vice President to state clearly whether he still stands by his 2022 position that petrol subsidy should be eliminated or has embraced the ADC’s proposed targeted restoration.

It added: “Nigeria is too important for economic policy to change according to the election calendar.

“By 2027, Nigerians must know which proposition they are being asked to vote for — subsidy removal, subsidy restoration, or restoration today followed by removal tomorrow.

“Until that explanation comes, what the opposition appears to be offering Nigerians is a subsidy on consistency.”