Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has asked President Bola Tinubu to begin preparing his handover notes ahead of the 2027 presidential election, declaring that the current administration’s time is up due to its inability to resolve the nation’s lingering fuel and transportation crises.
The charge was contained in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), criticized the federal government’s recent pledge to work with state governors to reduce public transport fares.
He accused the Tinubu administration of using a “belated transport fare promise” to mask a severe cost-of-living crisis created by the abrupt removal of the fuel subsidy without adequate mitigating measures.
“President Tinubu, Nigerians have paid enough for your economic experiment. Too little. Too inadequate. Too late. Your time is up. Prepare your handover. We are coming to make life affordable again,” Atiku said.
He further argued that the administration’s own data on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicle conversions points to a failure. According to him, the conversion of only about 120,000 vehicles to CNG over a prolonged period represents a major policy shortfall.
“If Tinubu’s grand strategy for cushioning the consequences of his reckless and poorly thought-out subsidy removal is CNG conversion, then the admission that only about 120,000 vehicles have been converted is not an achievement; it is an advertisement of policy failure,” Atiku stated.
“Against widely cited estimates of roughly 14 million vehicles on Nigerian roads, 120,000 conversions amount to less than one percent. That is the government’s own number. That is Tinubu marking his own examination script.
“If a student scored less than one percent in a core subject, WAEC would not call it progress. No university would call it an excellent performance. Yet, Tinubu wants Nigerians to reward the political equivalent of that catastrophic score with another four years. The truth is simple: Nigeria cannot afford another four years of monumental failure.”
Atiku also faulted President Tinubu’s recent declaration that cheaper fuel should automatically translate to cheaper transport fares, describing the statement as an admission that government policy has been disconnected from the daily struggles of ordinary citizens.
He recalled that the removal of the subsidy without a credible cushioning framework has driven up transport costs, food prices, and the overall cost of doing business, despite repeated pleas from Nigerians for relief.
According to the ADC candidate, the federal government is now attempting to mimic his own proposed economic solutions after initially dismissing them.
“Now that elections are approaching, and Nigerians are rallying behind Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s proposal for a production-based subsidy to immediately tackle the cost-of-living crisis, the same government that ridiculed the plan has suddenly discovered that Nigerians need cheaper transportation,” the statement read.
“This is medicine after death. You cannot break a man’s leg, abandon him in pain for over a year and a half, and then return with crutches demanding applause for compassion.”
Outlining his alternative approach, Atiku promised: “We will support domestic refining. We will track every barrel. We will cap the cost, reduce energy costs, and ensure that relief reaches the commuter, farmer, worker, trader, and small business owner—not politically connected middlemen. That is the difference: Tinubu manufactures hardship and distributes palliatives; Atiku will attack hardship at its source.”
He concluded by questioning the impact of the government’s current transport interventions, asking: “What exactly has Tinubu solved if the bus becomes cheaper to operate but the passenger has become too poor to board it? A cheaper bus without an affordable passenger is not economic recovery.”
