Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that the latest SBM Intelligence survey confirms that Nigerians have overwhelmingly rejected President Bola Tinubu’s disastrous fuel policy and are demanding immediate relief from the crushing cost of living.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the finding that 67.4 per cent of respondents want petrol subsidy restored represents a damning public verdict on an administration that removed subsidy without a plan and condemned millions of Nigerians to unprecedented hardship.
He said the 67.4 per cent figure is more than an economic statistic, adding that It represents the growing majority of Nigerians who have rejected Tinubu’s punishing economic philosophy and are embracing Atiku’s alternative vision of a government that protects its citizens rather than abandons them to the cruelties of the market.
“This survey is no longer merely about economic policy. It has become a democratic question. When an overwhelming majority of Nigerians declare that a government policy is destroying their lives, responsible leadership must listen,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President noted that petrol has become the second-most cited national problem and the Tinubu administration’s worst-rated policy issue, scoring a miserable 1.69 out of four.
“This survey is not merely about percentages. It is the collective cry of Nigerian families who can no longer afford food, workers whose salaries disappear on transportation, farmers who cannot move their produce to market and businesses collapsing under the weight of fuel and energy costs.
“For three and a half harrowing years, Nigerians have suffered under Tinubu’s reckless ‘subsidy is gone’ experiment. Transport costs have exploded. Food prices have soared. Businesses have collapsed. Purchasing power has been destroyed, and millions of families have been pushed deeper into poverty.
“The survey simply confirms what Nigerians already know: Tinubu’s fuel policy has caused far more harm than good. The policy has been rejected, and the government responsible for it must also be rejected,” Atiku said.
He described the survey as particularly revealing because 32.4 per cent of rural respondents identified petrol as their primary concern, compared with 11.7 per cent in urban areas.
Petrol also emerged as the leading concern in the Southwest, at 30.5 per cent, and the South-South, at 29.1 per cent—clear evidence that the suffering caused by Tinubu’s fuel policy cuts across geography, ethnicity and political affiliation.
According to Atiku, “President Tinubu removed subsidy with a slogan, not a strategy. He had no credible plan for domestic refining, mass transportation, wage protection or the millions of small businesses that depend on affordable energy.
“He was warned that this reckless approach would destroy purchasing power, increase transportation costs, worsen food inflation and push more Nigerians into poverty. He ignored those warnings. Today, the Nigerian people are delivering their verdict.”
Atiku said the administration could no longer hide behind manipulated statistics, propaganda and exaggerated claims about its CNG programme while Nigerians continued to pay unbearable prices for petrol and transportation.
