Senator Abdulaziz Yari has warned Nigerians against politicians promising to restore the petrol subsidy. Yari is the Director-General of the APC 2027 Presidential Campaign Council. He also represents Zamfara West in the Senate.
The former Zamfara governor spoke on Saturday when members of the APC National Working Committee visited him. His comments followed a recent promise by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to restore petrol subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Atiku, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, said he would introduce a targeted subsidy. He also questioned how the Federal Government had used savings from the subsidy removal.
Yari rejects plan to restore petrol subsidy
Yari said restoring the petrol subsidy would place another financial burden on the country. He therefore warned Nigerians against politicians making such promises ahead of the 2027 election. The senator also referred to the 2023 budget passed before President Bola Tinubu assumed office. According to him, the budget contained no provision for petrol subsidy.
“Before Asiwaju came in in 2023, there was no budget for subsidy,” Yari said.
“And anybody who is deceiving Nigerians, saying I’m going to bring this thing back, he’s lying to himself; he is lying internally, he’s lying eternally, he’s lying to Nigerians,” he said.
Yari questions subsidy spending
Yari also questioned the figures used to determine Nigeria’s petrol consumption. He said the country had not been able to establish its actual daily petrol consumption. According to him, the subsidy involved about N20 trillion in a year.
“This is about N20 trillion deal for a year, going to where we don’t know. Nobody can tell you, no one can tell you exactly how much litres we need, what are the quantities per day,” he said.
Yari recalled his time as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. He said the governors repeatedly asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to provide accurate consumption figures. According to him, the governors challenged the figures supplied by the NNPC for about four years. He said officials later claimed that some subsidised petrol was consumed in other West African countries.
“As chairman governors forum, we challenged NNPC for four years to tell us the exact consumption,” he said.
“They will propagate the numbers and say it, and we are paying the numbers. When at the end of the day, we push harder, they said no, ‘we are doing subsidy for West Africa.’”
APC to campaign on Tinubu’s achievements
Meanwhile, Yari said the APC would focus on the Tinubu administration’s achievements during the 2027 campaign. He said the party would present facts and figures instead of focusing on its political opponents. Yari added that the campaign would highlight completed projects and future plans.
“We are on the right path. By God’s grace, we have the data. This is what we are going to do in our campaign — facts and figures,” he said.
The APC campaign council DG also said the party would focus on what the government had achieved. It would also explain what it plans to do for Nigerians.
“What we have done, what we achieved, and what we intend to do in the future. We don’t call any names. Names are not important to us, but rather what we’re going to do for Nigerians and what we’ve been doing for the past three and a half years.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing his best, and we believe he’s the right man for this job again.”
Read also: 2027: Atiku Insists He Will Restore Petrol Subsidy
