Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the latest SBM Intelligence survey confirms that Nigerians have overwhelmingly rejected President Bola Tinubu’s disastrous fuel policy and demanding immediate relief from the crushing cost of living.
Mr Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the finding that 67.4 per cent of respondents want petrol subsidy restored represents a damning public verdict on an administration that removed subsidy without a plan and condemned millions of Nigerians to unprecedented hardship.
He said the 67.4 per cent figure is more than an economic statistic. It represents the growing majority of Nigerians who have rejected Mr Tinubu’s punishing economic philosophy and are embracing Atiku’s alternative vision of a government that protects its citizens rather than abandons them to the cruelties of the market.
“This survey is no longer merely about economic policy. It has become a democratic question. When an overwhelming majority of Nigerians declare that a government policy is destroying their lives, responsible leadership must listen,” Mr Atiku said.
The former vice president noted that petrol has become the second-most cited national problem and the Tinubu administration’s worst-rated policy issue, scoring a miserable 1.69 out of four.
“This survey is not merely about percentages. It is the collective cry of Nigerian families who can no longer afford food, workers whose salaries disappear on transportation, farmers who cannot move their produce to market and businesses collapsing under the weight of fuel and energy costs.
“For three and a half harrowing years, Nigerians have suffered under Tinubu’s reckless ‘subsidy is gone’ experiment. Transport costs have exploded. Food prices have soared. Businesses have collapsed. Purchasing power has been destroyed, and millions of families have been pushed deeper into poverty.
“The survey simply confirms what Nigerians already know: Tinubu’s fuel policy has caused far more harm than good. The policy has been rejected, and the government responsible for it must also be rejected,” Mr Atiku said.
He described the survey as particularly revealing because 32.4 per cent of rural respondents identified petrol as their primary concern, compared with 11.7 per cent in urban areas.
Petrol also emerged as the leading concern in the South-West, at 30.5 per cent, and the South-South, at 29.1 per cent—clear evidence that the suffering caused by Mr Tinubu’s fuel policy cuts across geography, ethnicity and political affiliation.
According to Mr Atiku, “President Tinubu removed subsidy with a slogan, not a strategy. He had no credible plan for domestic refining, mass transportation, wage protection or the millions of small businesses that depend on affordable energy.
“He was warned that this reckless approach would destroy purchasing power, increase transportation costs, worsen food inflation and push more Nigerians into poverty. He ignored those warnings. Today, the Nigerian people are delivering their verdict.”
Mr Atiku said the administration could no longer hide behind manipulated statistics, propaganda and exaggerated claims about its CNG programme while Nigerians continued to pay unbearable prices for petrol and transportation.
“Nigerians do not eat GDP figures. A mother cannot take FAAC allocations to the market. A worker cannot fuel his vehicle with presidential promises. Any economic reform that does not improve the lives of the people has failed.
“That is where Atiku is fundamentally different. Tinubu believes in imposing higher taxes, withdrawing every form of protection and exposing citizens to the full force of an economic crisis his government helped to create. I believe that government has a duty to protect its people, strengthen domestic production and shield vulnerable families from devastating economic shocks,” he said.
The former vice president reiterated that his proposed intervention would not revive the corrupt and opaque subsidy regime of the past. Instead, it would introduce a transparent production subsidy tied strictly to petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians.
“If elected, from May 29, 2027, I will introduce a transparent production subsidy for petroleum products refined in Nigeria and sold to Nigerians.
“Imports will not qualify. The programme will have a fixed spending limit, National Assembly approval and independent audits. Its purpose will be to reduce fuel prices, strengthen domestic refining, create Nigerian jobs and restore the purchasing power that this administration has destroyed.
“The 67.4 per cent demanding relief represents a democratic majority. On the strength of that democratic mandate, we will replace Tinubu’s policy of punishment with a policy of production, protection and affordability,” Mr Atiku said.
He called on Mr Tinubu to stop pretending that the suffering of Nigerians was an unavoidable price of reform and provide immediate relief during his remaining months in office.
“The people have spoken. The 67.4 per cent is a vote against Tinubu’s cruelty and a mandate for Atiku’s alternative. Tinubu made life expensive. Atiku will make life affordable again,” the statement noted.