Felix Morka, spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has described Atiku Abubakar’s promise to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027 as “desperation of the most pitiful kind”.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the money saved from subsidy removal had not been judiciously expended.

“I did not oppose the removal of the oil subsidy, but where is the money? Where did it go? It was intended to reduce poverty and help children attend school. Where is the money now? It seems they are just stealing it,” Atiku said in Hausa.

“If elected, I will bring back the oil subsidy, and whoever stole the money must refund it.”

Atiku said the removal of petrol subsidy could have been justified if the savings had been channelled into development projects, as well as security, education and opportunities for young Nigerians.

‘ATIKU IGNORING TINUBU’S ECONOMIC REFORMS’

Reacting, Morka accused the former vice-president of reversing his position for political reasons ahead of the 2027 election.

“Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has backflipped from his 2023 policy support for fuel subsidy removal to a promise to restore fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027,” he wrote on X.

“This is desperation of the most pitiful kind — an admission he is clueless and out of touch with Nigeria’s economic realities and imperatives of reform.”

The APC spokesperson accused Atiku of deliberately ignoring what he described as the transformative progress recorded under President Bola Tinubu.

Morka said the subsidy proposal showed that Atiku was “grossly bereft of ideas of alternative economic policy prescription”.

He described the proposal as “a last-ditch grasping at straws of misplaced populism”, which he said could ultimately contribute to another defeat for Atiku in 2027.

Morka said Atiku’s position amounted to “willful blindness to transformative progress recorded by the Tinubu administration”.

He added that Atiku’s proposal represented a reversal of economic reforms rather than a credible alternative policy for addressing Nigeria’s economic challenges.

Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy in his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, triggering a subsequent increase in the cost of living as the prices of goods and services rose across the country.

Several states, however, recorded increased monthly allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) following the subsidy removal.

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