The annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers, turned into a fiery political battleground as presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore; Vice Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rotimi Amaechi, and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi engaged in a heated debate over fuel subsidy and national governance.

The drama unfolded during a panel session on state affairs and economic policy, where Sowore launched a direct attack on mainstream politicians, accusing successive administrations of exploiting ordinary Nigerians under the guise of subsidy removal.

Opening his submission, Sowore asserted his long-standing opposition to fuel subsidy removal, accusing past and present leaders of shifting positions at the expense of the masses.

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“You’re the only one who has been consistent about non-removal of fuel subsidy. It has been me. And it took Amaechi and his principal almost 10 years to catch up with me. They have now reversed their position on fuel subsidy. The question about subsidy is, who are you subsidizing? You are subsidizing the elites. You are subsidizing the governors,” Sowore stated.

He further challenged the economic justification for the policy, adding: “I was a student in 1989, they removed subsidy. In 1990, they removed subsidy. They said Nigeria will be better. We are in 2026, they are still removing subsidy. They have been robbing Peter to pay Bola Tinubu. That is what removal of subsidy is all about. The poor people of this country only benefit from subsidy from petrol, gasoline. There is no subsidy on kerosene… What did they build with it? Please, don’t let these politicians lie to you.”

Referencing an earlier comment by Amaechi, a former Rivers State governor, Sowore noted: “I love one thing that Amaechi said. He said, apart from Sowore and Adebayo, the rest of us have been in government and we have failed. They have no business coming back. You guys should be apologizing to the Nigerian people.”

However, Amaechi quickly interjected, cutting Sowore off mid-sentence to refute the characterization of his remarks.

“Stop lying. Stop lying, Sowore. I said, judge us by our achievements,” Amaechi fired back.

Unfazed by the interruption, Sowore turned his sights directly to Amaechi’s record as a former governor of the host state and former Minister of Transportation.

“When it comes to subsidy, right? Transportation policy is important. We have a former governor of Rivers State here, Amaechi, who built a rail line that went nowhere. If that rail line was working, subsidy would have been working for the people of Rivers State,” Sowore argued.

Responding, Amaechi defended his records as governor and as the former Minister, highlighting his administration’s construction of roads, primary schools, and major rail projects like the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna railways.

The ADC vice-presidential candidate quipped: “Where are Rivers lawyers? Let them take Sowore around and show him what I did as a former Governor.”

This was just as he asked lawyers from Ogun State, Kaduna State and other places to confirm if the railway system is still working in their states, and when interjected by Sowore again, Amaechi lost his cool and declared: “Moreover, Sowore, when politicians are talking, close your mouth.”

He went on to criticise Peter Obi’s past tenure as Anambra State governor, stating: “Peter Obi did not subsidize education in his state. Lecturers and doctors went on strike for 13 months. You may like him as a person, but he did not perform as a governor. That is the truth… I will not remove subsidy because the poor in Nigeria need to be subsidized instead of the rich. We are already subsidizing them with waivers. We have a duty to return power to the people.”

Taking the floor, Peter Obi defended the necessity of removing fuel subsidy, maintaining that while he supports the policy, his administration would have executed it differently to directly benefit citizens.

“I subscribe and I maintain that you need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it,” Obi said. “What we would have done is that when we remove subsidy, we would have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy. What we have today is that the removal and the attendant resources being recovered are also being mismanaged and stolen.”

Highlighting his proposed reinvestment strategy, Obi argued: “Assuming we use 5% of the 16 trillion naira recovered to address our primary healthcare—which is in a poor state where we now have more maternal and child issues than countries like India—it would cost about 800 billion naira. With 808,809 wards in Nigeria, allocating 100 million naira to each ward would transform primary healthcare completely.“