The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 elections, Abdulaziz Yari, has accused the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, of misleading Nigerians with his promise to restore petrol subsidy if elected president.
Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State, stated this when he received the patron of the City Boy Movement, Seyi Tinubu, and members of the group, during a meeting focused on strengthening collaboration ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Atiku had recently declared that an ADC-led administration would fully restore petrol subsidy, while clarifying that his proposal was not a return to the former import-subsidy regime or a policy tied to a predetermined withdrawal date.
According to the former vice-president, the proposed intervention would be targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited, primarily to support domestic refining and production.
“There is no arbitrary withdrawal date. As domestic refining expands, supply stabilises, competition deepens, and the market becomes capable of delivering affordable prices without government support, the intervention progressively becomes unnecessary,” Atiku said.
However, Yari dismissed the proposal, arguing that there was no provision for petrol subsidy in the budget when President Bola Tinubu assumed office. He questioned how any incoming administration could have implemented subsidy then..
He said, “There was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 budget. How is it going to happen? Definitely, whoever is there, the first thing he is going to do was removal. And anybody who is deceiving Nigerians must say, ‘I am going to bring this thing back,’ is lying.”
“He is lying internally; he is lying to Nigerians,” the campaign DG added.
Yari also questioned the actual volume of petrol consumed in the country, claiming that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had failed to provide convincing data on national fuel consumption despite repeated demands.
He alleged that the subsidy regime could cost about N20 trillion annually, while criticising the absence of what he described as reliable figures on daily petrol consumption.
“This is about N20 trillion for a year. Where is it going? We don’t know. Nobody can tell you exactly how many litres we need or the quantity per day,” he said.
Yari said the APC would base its 2027 campaign on what he described as “facts and figures”, highlighting the achievements of the President Tinubu administration rather than concentrating on its political opponents.
“By God’s grace, we have the data. This is what we are going to do in our campaigns: facts and figures. What we have done, what we have achieved, and what we intend to do in the future,” he said.
“We don’t call any names. Names are not important to us. Rather, what we are going to do for Nigerians and what we have been doing for the past three years we have been in office.”
The APC campaign chief also defended the Tinubu administration’s record on infrastructure and security, claiming that significant resources had been deployed to strengthen the country’s security architecture.
He said the government had committed substantial funds to security operations, including the procurement of arms, ammunition and other equipment.
