The Presidency on Wednesday accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of repeatedly shifting his position on petrol subsidy, describing the conflicting explanations from him and his aides as evidence of policy confusion and political opportunism.

Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement that Nigerians had received three different accounts within one week of what an Atiku administration would do about the subsidy regime.

He challenged the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate to present a coherent and properly costed petroleum policy instead of, in his words, exploiting the temporary economic hardship facing Nigerians for political advantage.

“The latest comments by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on petrol subsidy raise a fundamental question: is he seriously proposing an economic policy, or is he simply playing politics with the temporary discomfort Nigerians face?” Onanuga asked.

The presidential aide recalled that Atiku’s spokesperson, Paul Ibe, had initially said the former vice-president would restore petrol subsidy if elected and gradually phase it out.

According to him, Ibe presented the proposed measure as a temporary intervention designed to give households and businesses room to recover from current economic pressures.

Onanuga said another senior aide to Atiku, Phrank Shaibu, subsequently disowned that explanation, describing it as an “unauthorised and misleading characterisation” of the former vice-president’s position.

Shaibu, he noted, had explained that an Atiku government would not fix a predetermined date for subsidy removal but would retain the intervention until domestic refining capacity increased, supply became stable, competition improved and the market could deliver affordable prices without government support.

The presidential spokesman said Atiku later entered the debate and appeared to overrule the clarification by reaffirming his support for what he called a targeted subsidy.

Atiku had said: “I will restore targeted subsidy and put purchasing power back in the hands of Nigerians.”

Reacting, Onanuga said the conflicting declarations could not be dismissed as a disagreement over words because they raised serious questions about the substance and direction of Atiku’s economic proposal.