Tinubu made the remarks on Thursday while receiving Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke at the State House in Abuja, where the two leaders held discussions following Adeleke’s re-election victory in the August 15 Osun governorship poll.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, had stated earlier on Thursday that he would restore the fuel subsidy upon winning the 2027 presidential election, a proposal that drew a swift and direct response from the presidency.
Atiku also accused the Tinubu administration of failing to account for savings generated since the removal of the fuel subsidy, which the government introduced shortly after assuming office in May 2023, raising questions about transparency and the management of public funds freed by the policy change.
Tinubu defended the subsidy removal decision, arguing that national resources must be redirected toward infrastructure and essential services rather than returned to subsidy payments that he said had burdened previous administrations and drained the public treasury for decades.
“Let’s look at the trajectory of the history. I saw one of my opponents; now say he will go back to subsidy. I read it. That is a demonstration of serious ignorance on governance and economy,” Tinubu stated at the State House.
The president recalled the fiscal difficulties that preceded his administration’s assumption of office, pointing to the inability of multiple state governments to meet basic financial obligations to workers and retirees across the country.
“Before I came here, 27 states were unable to pay salaries, not to even talk of pensioners’ or workers’ salaries,” he said, arguing the subsidy regime had contributed to the resource constraints that left states unable to meet those obligations.
Tinubu said government funds freed from subsidy payments should instead flow into sectors with direct impact on the lives of ordinary Nigerians, citing infrastructure, housing, education, and healthcare as priority areas deserving greater investment.
The exchange between Tinubu and Atiku over fuel subsidy policy comes as the 2027 presidential contest begins to take shape, with Atiku having secured the presidential ticket of the African Democratic Congress ahead of the election cycle.
The State House meeting on Thursday marked Adeleke’s first formal visit to Tinubu since the Independent National Electoral Commission declared him the winner of the Osun governorship election held on August 15.
The electoral commission confirmed that Adeleke secured 511,067 votes in the Osun poll, defeating All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes, a margin of more than 66,000 votes separating the two candidates.
Adeleke presented his certificate of return to Tinubu at the Presidential Villa following the declaration of results, marking his formal return to office for a second term as governor of Osun State. The visit was seen as a courtesy call consistent with the tradition of newly re-elected governors acknowledging the president following their electoral victories.
The fuel subsidy debate has remained politically charged in Nigeria since Tinubu’s administration ended decades of subsidized petrol prices immediately upon taking office in May 2023, triggering sharp increases in fuel costs across the country.
Atiku’s decision to run on a platform that includes restoring the subsidy positions the 2027 presidential race as a direct contest over one of the most consequential economic policy decisions of the current administration, with voters set to weigh the competing proposals.
Tinubu’s rejection of Atiku’s subsidy proposal on Thursday placed the fuel subsidy question at the center of early campaign arguments, with the president defending his administration’s record while characterizing his opponent’s plan as economically unsound and a reversal of necessary reform.
The exchange signaled that energy policy would not remain a technical debate confined to economists and industry stakeholders. It has moved into the open terrain of electoral politics, where both sides now have an interest in framing the issue in terms that resonate with voters who have lived through the consequences of subsidy removal at the petrol pump. and a reversal of necessary reform.
