Nigeria’s 2027 political season has apparently found another item to fight over: the ghost of fuel subsidy. Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 Presidential Campaign Council, has warned that politicians promising to restore petrol subsidy are deceiving Nigerians, turning what was once an economic policy into a campaign-season tug-of-war over who can make the most attractive promise at the fuel pump.
Yari made the declaration after members of the APC National Working Committee visited him, responding to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s pledge to introduce a targeted subsidy if elected president in 2027. Yari argued that the subsidy system could not realistically return, while also questioning the historical figures used to calculate petrol consumption and subsidy payments. His comments have injected fresh fuel into an already heated political debate.
Subsidy Debate Returns Just When Nigerians Thought It Had Left
Yari’s argument comes against the background of President Bola Tinubu’s removal of petrol subsidy in 2023, a reform the Federal Government continues to defend as necessary for improving public finances. The government says the removal generated about ₦15.8 trillion in resources for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025. Tinubu has also rejected calls for a reversal, describing such proposals as evidence of poor understanding of governance and the economy.
But the political irony is difficult to miss: Nigerians are now being asked to listen to politicians debate whether something that disappeared from the official economic menu should be brought back through a different recipe. Yari says anyone promising a return to the old system is deceiving the public, while Atiku has argued for a targeted subsidy rather than simply recreating the previous arrangement. In the meantime, motorists remain less interested in the philosophical funeral of subsidy than in the price written on the filling-station board.
Yari Puts Campaign ‘Facts and Figures’ on the Pump
Yari, a former Zamfara governor and senator representing Zamfara West, also questioned the accuracy of historical fuel-consumption figures. He recalled that, while serving as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, governors repeatedly challenged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company over the exact quantity of fuel being consumed. According to him, the subsidy system involved enormous sums, with competing explanations about where the fuel was supposedly going.
His intervention is particularly significant because Yari was only recently appointed Director-General of the APC’s 2027 Presidential Campaign Council, giving the subsidy argument an unmistakable electoral dimension. The APC campaign structure, chaired by President Bola Tinubu, has been established ahead of the 2027 presidential contest, with the party promising to campaign around the administration’s record and plans. Yari has similarly said the APC intends to emphasise “facts and figures” rather than personal attacks.
For Nigerians, however, the coming political battle may be judged by a simpler calculator: how much it costs to fill a tank. Petrol prices remain subject to market movements, and the Dangote Petroleum Refinery cut its ex-depot petrol price to ₦1,165 per litre earlier this month, illustrating how pricing can shift even without the old subsidy regime.
As the 2027 campaign gathers momentum, the subsidy argument is unlikely to disappear quietly. One side says bringing it back is economically unrealistic; another proposes a targeted version; and millions of Nigerians are left watching the debate while checking their wallets before visiting the filling station. OGM News NG will continue to monitor the political promises, economic arguments and petrol-price drama as the 2027 contest develops.
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