2027: Atiku’s Subsidy Promise Is Political Strategy Like APC’s Muslim-Muslim Ticket — Fayemi

By Frontline Reporters

Former Ekiti State Governor and ex-Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, has described the fuel subsidy proposal by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, as a political strategy comparable to the All Progressives Congress’ Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket in the 2023 election.

Fayemi made the assertion during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time on Monday, while weighing in on the renewed debate over fuel subsidy and Atiku’s promise to reconsider the policy ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

“My take on that is that Atiku’s proposal on subsidy is politically equivalent to our own Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023. It’s a political strategy. It’s not an economic construct,” Fayemi said.

He, however, acknowledged that Atiku’s position could appeal to millions of Nigerians struggling with the consequences of petrol subsidy removal, stressing that vulnerable citizens were more concerned about their worsening economic circumstances than the technical arguments surrounding subsidy policy.

“But understandably, it’s a political strategy that will sell with those who are hard done by the impact of fuel subsidy removal,” he said.

Fayemi reiterated his long-standing support for the removal of fuel subsidy, recalling that he had advocated the policy for years, including during his tenure as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

“I was and I remain an advocate of fuel subsidy removal. As chairman of the governors’ forum, I spent four years in this battle,” he said.

The former governor, however, criticised the manner in which the subsidy removal was implemented by President Bola Tinubu, saying the current administration inherited a process that had already been substantially completed by the previous government.

“What President Tinubu inherited, in fairness to him, was the work that had already been completed by that administration. The only challenge I had with it was the way it was done,” Fayemi said.

According to him, state governors had previously worked with the Federal Government and the World Bank to develop a comprehensive safety-net strategy designed to cushion the effects of subsidy removal on the most vulnerable Nigerians.

“However, as I have also consistently said, at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, we actually had a committee work with the federal government and the World Bank, by the way, to develop a safety-net strategy that would address what would happen to the most vulnerable segment of our population,” he said.

Fayemi argued that the hardship still confronting vulnerable Nigerians was what he believed Atiku was seeking to exploit politically through his subsidy proposal.

“I believe that’s what Vice President Atiku is taking advantage of. The vulnerable segment of the population is still hard done by,” he said.

He noted that many Nigerians were less interested in the technicalities of subsidy policy than in their ability to meet basic needs, including feeding their families, paying school fees and accessing healthcare.

“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.

He further linked poverty and inequality to the country’s security challenges, arguing that economic deprivation remained a major factor behind insurgency and banditry.

According to Fayemi, “poverty and inequality” are “also at the root of the insurgency and the banditry that we’re dealing with.”

He concluded that, just as the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket was designed as an electoral strategy in 2023, Atiku’s renewed position on fuel subsidy was similarly aimed at tapping into public dissatisfaction over the economic consequences of subsidy removal ahead of the 2027 general elections