African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has alleged that a planned protest by Lagos transporters would give President Bola Tinubu an excuse to bring back fuel subsidy for a time and then scrap it again after the 2027 election.

Atiku spoke on Friday at a press conference at his home in Abuja. “I’m aware that Lagos transporters are planning a protest,” he said. “That protest will provide Bola Tinubu the excuse to temporarily bring back fuel subsidy and, after being re-elected, go back to remove it.”

He asked Nigerians not to treat any short-lived cut in pump prices as a settled change of policy. Tinubu ended the subsidy in his inaugural speech on 29 May 2023. Petrol that sold below N200 a litre then is now reported around N1,430 to N1,470.

Atiku said the removal had pushed up transport and food costs without enough protection for households and businesses. He urged the president to use the roughly eight months left in this term to lower petrol prices, and said Tinubu should not reject an intervention just because the idea came from a rival. If elected in 2027, Atiku said he would introduce a transparent production subsidy on fuel refined in Nigeria.

The claim about a staged or convenient protest is Atiku’s allegation. Neither the presidency nor a named Lagos transport union confirmed such a plan in the first reports of the briefing. The government has defended subsidy removal as a fiscal necessity and has attacked Atiku’s promise to restore support for fuel as a return to waste.

The argument now is over whether any pre-election relief on petrol would be relief or a campaign device. Atiku has named the device he says to watch for. The transporters, if they do protest, will have to say why they are in the street.