2027: Okechukwu Says Atiku’s Desperation To Win Pushes ‘Retain Fuel Subsidy’ Stance
A foundation member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, says former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s desperation to win the 2027 Presidential Election has pushed his recent ‘retain fuel subsidy’ stance.
Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), said this in a statement on Sunday in Enugu.
He described the promise made by Atiku, who is the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as “medicine after death”, born out of desperation to win the forthcoming Presidential Election.
He noted that no patriot would doubt that bad economic policies harm liberal democracy and that removal of fuel subsidy, like virtually every other component of Nigeria’s four-decade-old neoliberal economic experiment, had unintended and painful consequences for Nigerians.
Okechukwu said that among the consequences are: erosion of living standards, severe pressure on small and medium-scale enterprises, rising unemployment, slide of more than 100 million Nigerians into multidimensional poverty, and worsening insecurity crisis, especially kidnapping.
“One is at a loss how His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, who was not only on the same page with President Bola Tinubu in 2022 that removal of fuel subsidy was inevitable.
“But was also a kingpin in the first phase implementation of the Fourth Republic’s neoliberal economic policies, can now present himself as the champion of fuel subsidy retention?
“Among those policies which he superintendent were fuel subsidy removal and the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), some of which have produced outcomes that impacted adversely on Nigerians and had retarded our economic growth,” he said.
Going further, Okechukwu said that on Atiku promise to retain fuel subsidy as we approach 2027 Presidential Election, ‘may I ask – what has changed?
According to him, is this not sheer opportunism and simply an electoral promise designed to exploit the hardship Nigerians are experiencing today?
The APC chieftain described Atiku’s latest stance as “the height of political desperation and inconsistency.”
He observed that Atiku’s decision to deliver the the message through Hausa Service channel is more or less a smart ploy he assumed would resonate with voters in Northern Nigeria.
“Perhaps Atiku assumes that the Northern electorate will readily buy-in the kite he is flying? Permit me to remind him that Northern electorate are one of the most politically sophisticated electorates in our dear country.
“Atiku is neither Buhari in the minds of Northern electorates, nor Mai Gasikiya.
“It is with nostalgia that one paraphrased the words on marble of 2nd Republic President, His Excellency Shehu Shagari that, “only Malam Aminu Kano and President Buhari had political cult followership in Northern Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, Nigerians are anxiously waiting for well-digested and articulated line-by-line solutions on how best to lift millions out of poverty.
“How best to cap corruption that seems to be growing wings and contain palpable insecurity, not copy paste last-minute populist manifesto designed principally to win votes,” he said.
Okechukwu said Nigerians are no longer demanding political campaign motivated fuel subsidy removal but strict observance of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which established Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation; the embedded and pragmatic market forces enabler designed to reduce fuel price.
He stressed that the legitimate solution to reduction of fuel pump price remained constant supply of crude oil to Dangote and other local refineries in naira, in line with the PIA, hence to enable the companies to compete unhindered.