Chuks Okocha in Abuja
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of utilizing the 90-day cost-of-living reduction plan introduced by the National Economic Council (NEC) to woo voters forward of the presidential election.
Atiku, via his Director of Strategic Communication on the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, stated the timing of the initiative raised questions concerning the authorities’s dedication to easing the hardship Nigerians had endured over the previous three and a half years.
Addressing a press convention on behalf of Atiku, Shaibu stated: “The presidential election is 86 days away. Yet President Bola Tinubu’s National Economic Council has introduced a cost-of-living plan that may run for 90 days.
“The arithmetic is obvious: the plan ends after Nigerians have voted. After three and a half years of hardship, this authorities is asking households to carry one other promise into the polling sales space and look forward to reduction till the votes are counted.
“This is election bait. Tinubu is offering hungry Nigerians the promise of affordable food, but the promised relief comes with a deadline that outlasts the election. The message is simple: vote first; relief later. Nigerians should refuse the bait and judge this government by the three and a half years they have already lived through,” Atiku added.
The plan, in accordance to Atiku, identifies 5 priorities: meals affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of necessary tasks, removing of funding bottlenecks and family assist. He argued that these have been issues Nigerians had anticipated the administration to tackle since taking workplace.
“Families have cut meals. Workers spend more of their wages getting to work. Manufacturers struggle to produce, and businesses have closed. Tinubu cannot erase three and a half years of hardship with a 90-day announcement,” he stated.
Atiku argued that the results of petrol subsidy removing on transport, meals and manufacturing prices had been predictable, insisting that measures to defend susceptible households ought to have accompanied the choice.
“Instead, the federal government imposed the prices instantly and left Nigerians to look forward to the advantages. Now, after years of hardship, it has instantly found that folks want inexpensive meals.
“A government cannot put a 90-day deadline on hunger, the cost-of-living crisis and insecurity and call it an economic policy,” he stated.
Atiku additionally questioned the effectiveness of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC) petrol low cost promotion, which started on October 1 and was subsequently introduced by the federal government as half of its reduction efforts.
He stated he had visited NNPC Retail stations and was instructed that no low cost was accessible, including that he purchased petrol at N1,405 per litre.
“With barely every week left earlier than the supply expires, my expertise as a buyer was easy: a promise of reduction, and a better value on the pump. If NNPC says motorists can entry a reduction via an app, it should clarify why clients arriving at its stations have been instructed there was none.
“How many customers received the discount? At which stations? How many litres were sold at the reduced price? Publish the figures,” he stated.
Atiku questioned the attain of the promotion, noting that NNPC had about 900 retail stations in a rustic the place motorists purchased petrol from 1000’s of shops.
“What reach can a N66-per-litre promotion have when it is confined to that network? And what lasting relief does N66 offer families whose transport and food bills remain high?” he requested.
He added: “Tinubu announces relief at a podium. Nigerians arrive at the pump and pay more. Now his government expects the country to trust another announcement, this time with a 90-day deadline.”
The former vice-president stated the timing of the initiative was important as a result of the cost-of-living disaster had turn into central to his marketing campaign, which he stated was targeted on making Nigeria inexpensive once more.
He accused the Tinubu administration of making an attempt to applicable that message with a reduction plan whose timeline prolonged past the election.
“Nigerians should not trade three and a half years of lived hardship for three months of promises,” he stated.
Atiku challenged the federal government to present particulars of the 5 priorities outlined within the plan.
On meals affordability, he requested which prices would fall for farmers, transporters and merchants, when customers would start to see decrease market costs, and the way the federal government would maintain affordability past the 90-day interval.
On tax harmonisation, he demanded particulars of the costs to be eliminated or consolidated and urged the federal government to publish the total tax schedule, together with whether or not the promised reduction can be adopted by increased expenses after the election.
He additionally questioned which tasks can be accomplished inside 90 days, how a lot remained to be paid for them and when Nigerians would give you the option to use them.
“A project is complete when it serves people, not when it is marked complete on a government dashboard,” he stated.
On funding bottlenecks, Atiku requested which obstacles the federal government supposed to take away throughout the interval, arguing that producers wanted dependable energy, manageable transport prices and entry to inexpensive finance to increase operations and create jobs.
He additionally demanded particulars of the proposed family assist, together with eligibility standards, the quantity every family would obtain, when funds would start, the price range and the cost mechanism.
Atiku raised issues a couple of registration type reportedly being circulated underneath the identify “Arise for Tinubu 2027”. He stated the shape requested voter identification, financial institution particulars and phone numbers, and questioned who was gathering the knowledge, how it will be used and whether or not the train was linked to the federal government’s family assist programme.
“No Nigerian should have to hand over voter or bank details to a political group to receive public relief,” he stated.
He urged the federal government to make clear whether or not the registration train was related to any publicly funded programme and, if not, clarify how it will forestall family assist from getting used to recruit voters or gather their private knowledge.
Atiku maintained that Nigerians who had borne the burden of the federal government’s reforms have been entitled to proof that the promised advantages would attain them and proceed past election day.
“People do not reject reform because they fail to understand it. They reject being told to sacrifice today for relief that never arrives—or arrives with an expiry date,” he stated.
He pledged to make Nigeria extra inexpensive via disciplined public spending, focused family reduction, decrease prices of producing and transporting important items, and insurance policies that might allow Nigerian producers to increase and make use of extra individuals.
“Economic policy should be judged by what families can afford, not by how many deadlines a government announces,” he stated.
Atiku challenged Tinubu to reply two questions: whether or not Nigerians have been higher off than they have been in May 2023, and whether or not they would nonetheless give you the option to afford meals on the 91st day of the proposed reduction plan.
“Until he can reply each, Nigerians have each purpose to see this 90-day train for what it’s: a political timetable dressed up as financial reduction.
“President Tinubu made life expensive. Atiku Abubakar will make life affordable again,” he stated.
Atiku additionally questioned Tinubu’s document on safety in Kaduna State forward of the President’s anticipated go to to launch his re-election marketing campaign in the present day.
He stated the President ought to mirror on the state’s expertise with lethal assaults, civilian casualties and pure disasters earlier than in search of one other mandate.
“Tinubu is also expected in Kaduna to launch his re-election campaign. Before the music starts and the crowd is assembled, he should remember what the state has endured under his presidency,” he stated.
Atiku cited the December 3, 2023, army drone strike on civilians attending a Maulud celebration in Tudun Biri, through which at the very least 85 individuals have been killed. He stated Tinubu despatched the Vice-President to go to survivors however didn’t personally go to grieving households.
He additionally referred to studies by residents of Giwa in September 2024 that one other army airstrike had killed at the very least 24 civilians.
In Kajuru, he stated, households had buried family members and looked for family members kidnapped by bandits. He additionally cited a kidnapping-related assault in Kachia in September 2025 that affected 152 individuals, with eight deaths and 9 accidents recorded.
Atiku additional highlighted the influence of storms and floods within the state. He stated windstorms and rain in July 2025 affected 6,172 individuals and broken a whole bunch of shelters throughout 5 native authorities areas, whereas flooding in Zaria in September affected 476 individuals and left dozens injured.
“When families were burying their dead, searching for their children and clearing wreckage from their homes, Kaduna needed the attention of its President,” he stated.
Atiku questioned the Presidency’s account of Tinubu’s September 2025 go to to Kaduna, which he stated listed a marriage and a courtesy name.
“Tinubu can find his way to Kaduna for a wedding. He can find his way there for votes. Why was he absent when grieving families needed their President?” he requested.
He urged Tinubu not to use affected households as a backdrop for a marketing campaign occasion, calling on the President to clarify what had been completed for the victims of Tudun Biri, the result of investigations into civilian deaths and the measures being taken to defend communities nonetheless threatened by abductions.
“Before asking Kaduna for another mandate, he should explain what has been done for the victims of Tudun Biri, what became of investigations into civilian deaths and how his government will protect communities still threatened by abduction,” Atiku stated.
