Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has fired back at ex-Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi over remarks dismissing his fuel subsidy proposal as a mere political strategy rather than an economic policy.
Fayemi, during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Monday, had likened Atiku’s subsidy proposal to the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in the 2023 election, describing both as political strategies designed to win votes rather than solve problems.
However, Atiku through his spokesperson, Paul Ibe, rejected the comparison, insisting that the former governor’s attempt to dismiss the proposal as a political calculation is a way of avoiding the substance of the debate.
Ibe argued that every major economic policy has political consequences, particularly when it directly affects the welfare of millions of Nigerians. The real question, he said, is whether the proposal makes economic sense, and that is where Fayemi’s argument falls short.
Atiku is not proposing a return to the discredited import-dependent subsidy regime shrouded in opacity and corruption, Ibe clarified. Instead, the ADC candidate is proposing a production-anchored subsidy, a fundamentally different model designed around domestic production and refining, where crude oil would be sold to local refiners at discounted prices to reduce production costs and lower pump prices.
“If Fayemi believes the proposal is economically unsound, there is a perfectly legitimate way to challenge it: demonstrate the projected fiscal cost, explain why the production-linked mechanism would fail, identify the inflationary or market distortions it would create, and propose a better alternative,” the Atiku camp argued.
Ibe maintained that simply dismissing the proposal as a political strategy does not answer any of those questions. By Fayemi’s logic, he added, any economic policy announced during an election cycle could be dismissed as political, making virtually every campaign promise in every democracy an illegitimate economic proposition.
The former vice president has consistently defended his subsidy plan, saying he would restore a targeted subsidy focused on supporting domestic production rather than the import racket of the past.
Atiku has argued that Nigeria is rich enough to provide relief to citizens facing economic hardship, and that subsidy removal without addressing the underlying cost structure of petroleum products simply transfers the burden from government to citizens.
Fayemi, however, has maintained his support for subsidy removal, saying he spent four years as chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum advocating the policy. He acknowledged that the proposal could resonate with Nigerians struggling with economic consequences of the removal but insisted it remains a political strategy.
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