By Abiola Olawale
Former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has dismissed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to reinstate petrol subsidies, comparing the policy position to the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim ticket strategy used during the 2023 general elections.
Speaking during a television interview on Arise News, Fayemi stated that Atiku’s promise is purely a political manoeuvre designed to leverage public frustration rather than a viable economic solution.
Fayemi, a long-standing advocate for fuel subsidy removal who previously chaired the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), argued that opposition figures are capitalising on the current economic hardships faced by vulnerable citizens.
“My take is that Atiku’s proposal on subsidy is the political equivalent of our own Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023. It’s a political strategy. It’s not an economic construct,” he said.
In 2023, Tinubu picked Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim from the northern part of the country, as his running mate.
The decision generated controversy, with critics arguing that the ticket failed to reflect Nigeria’s religious diversity.
Last month, Atiku said he would restore the petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
The former vice-president also accused the federal government of failing to account for funds saved from removing the subsidy, saying the money should have been used to tackle poverty and fund development.
Tinubu criticised the proposal, describing it as evidence of “serious ignorance” of governance and the economy.
Atiku rejected the criticism, noting that his proposal was not a return to the old subsidy regime but a targeted, capped, budgeted and independently audited intervention to support domestic production.
Fayemi’s comparison suggests that, like the Muslim-Muslim ticket, Atiku’s subsidy proposal is a political calculation aimed at winning support from Nigerians affected by the economic hardship.
“But understandably, it is a political strategy that will sell with those who are hard done by the impact of fuel subsidy removal,” Fayemi said.
The former governor said he remained an advocate of subsidy removal, noting that he had spent years supporting efforts to end the policy.
He said the Tinubu administration inherited the groundwork for subsidy removal from former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, but criticised the manner in which the policy was implemented.
The former governor said the major weakness in the subsidy removal process was the failure to implement adequate measures to protect vulnerable Nigerians.
He said the Nigerian Governors’ Forum had worked with the federal government and the World Bank to develop a safety-net strategy for people who would be most affected by the policy.
“What President Tinubu inherited, in fairness to him, was the work that had already been completed by that [Buhari] administration. The only challenge it had was the way it was done,” he said.
He said Atiku is taking advantage of the continued hardship among vulnerable Nigerians who were less concerned about the technical arguments surrounding subsidy removal.
“Frankly, they [poor Nigerians] don’t want to go into the minutiae of subsidy removal and no subsidy removal. They just want to live reasonably well, eke out a living, have one or two meals a day, be able to send their kids to school, not be taken in by sickness or anything that might create further problems for them,” Fayemi said.
“So I think the way we saw Muslim-Muslim ticket as a political strategy in order to maximise the vote for our party in 2023, I believe that’s what the opposition candidate is also trying to take advantage of.”
