“If I win the presidential election, I will restore the subsidy. And anyone who stole Nigeria’s subsidy funds must return the money”
By Editorial Team
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Published on August 22, 2026
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4 min read
When Atiku Abubakar told an Hausa interviewer on Wednesday that “If I win the presidential election, I will restore the subsidy. And anyone who stole Nigeria’s subsidy funds must return the money,” he did not just make a policy statement, he found the one issue that can make the ruling APC lose the 2027 election. For a government that staked everything on “subsidy is gone,” this reversal has become Atiku’s strongest campaign weapon and the ruling party’s weakest point.
President Bola Tinubu himself had to abandon protocol and reply directly from the Villa while receiving Governor Ademola Adeleke, calling Atiku’s plan “a demonstration of serious ignorance on governance and the economy.” He claimed that before he came 27 states could not pay salaries but now they can because of subsidy removal. If the policy was truly popular, a single interview would not force the President to personally defend it. The angry response itself shows the Villa knows Nigerians are not feeling that FAAC prosperity at home.
That panic explains why the entire ruling camp was mobilized in 24 hours. FCT Minister Nyesom Wike called Atiku a “confused voodoo economist” asking “Is he going back to the fraud that he had alleged was the fuel subsidy?” The Presidency through Bayo Onanuga and APC spokesman Felix Morka branded it “retrogressive” and “flip-flopping in last-ditch desperation,” while Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo, in his X account, knocked him as “too desperate.” When the President, two senior ministers, and the party spokesman all attack one interview at once, it is not strength, it is fear that Atiku has hit the jackpot.
What makes it Atiku’s strongest point is that he is not promising a return to the old import scam. His new model under the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan (AERP) 2027 is to “replace Nigeria’s old import-subsidy architecture with a targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited production subsidy designed to lower energy costs while accelerating domestic refining.” He says “The subsidy will follow the barrel” and “The cost will be known. The ceiling will be known. The beneficiaries will be known.” That message of a clean, production-based subsidy is easy to sell against the current opaque system.
This is why Nigerians suffering from the economy are already connecting with it, and why it can translate directly into votes against the ruling party. Atiku’s simple question – “I initially did not oppose the removal of the fuel subsidy. But now that it has been removed, where is the money?” – exposes the contradiction the government cannot answer. They claim N15.8 trillion saved between June 2023 and December 2025, yet petrol is over N1,000, transport has tripled, and as his team put it: “Petrol prices exploded. Transportation and production costs followed. Food prices soared. Businesses buckled and household purchasing power was decimated.”
In 2027, elections will not be won on grammar about reforms but on who eases hunger. While Tinubu tells Nigerians to endure and celebrates bigger FAAC cheques to governors, Atiku is promising to put money back in their pockets immediately. That is a clear electoral win for him. Every market woman, okada rider, and student who cannot afford transport is a potential vote for the man who says he will bring subsidy back. This single issue alone can make the APC lose, because they cannot campaign on hardship, but Atiku can campaign on relief.
Ultimately, Atiku has turned Tinubu’s signature achievement into his biggest liability. His reversal has sent panic through the ruling camp because they know they cannot defend subsidy removal on the streets. In a contest decided by the cost of living, the candidate who promises to reverse the policy that caused the suffering holds the ace. For Atiku, this is not just another promise, it is his strongest card for 2027, and for the APC, it may be the reason they lose power.
