Opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) yesterday challenged President Bola Tinubu to account for trillions of naira generated from petrol subsidy removal before dismissing the promises of relief made by Atiku Abubakar as a lie.
The ADC, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Bolaji Abdullahi, challenged Tinubu through a direct message to the Director General of the Tinubu/Shettima campaign organization, Senator Abdul’aziz Yari, asking him to explain what Nigerians had gained from the savings made from the Subsidy removal.
According to the ADC, “Since the removal of petrol subsidy shortly after Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements have risen sharply, driven by savings from subsidy payments, exchange rate adjustments, and higher naira-denominated oil revenues”.
“However, the sharp improvement in government revenues has coincided with one of the most difficult cost-of-living periods for Nigerian households in recent years. Petrol prices rose dramatically following deregulation, driving significant increases in transportation, food, and other essential costs”.
“The depreciation of the naira and the removal of energy subsidies combined to fuel inflation, eroding household purchasing power and intensifying pressure on workers and businesses”, the ADC said.
Stressing further, Abdullahi said, “If the message of the president’s re-election campaign is that Nigerians must accept today’s hardship as permanent and anyone promising relief is a liar, then Nigerians must be seriously concerned”.
Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of ADC, Atiku Abubakar, described the continued rise in petrol prices, despite lower crude prices, as further evidence that Tinubu’s economic experiment had become a conveyor belt transferring pain from government policy directly into Nigerian homes.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president also condemned Tinubu’s three-week vacation in Europe, beginning August 30, as announced by the presidency, as troubling. Atiku said the vacation coming at a time many Nigerian families and businesses were struggling showed insensitivity to the plight of citizens.
Quoting figures attributed to Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, ADC stated that petrol subsidy removal and foreign-exchange reforms generated about N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the federation between June 2023 and December 2025. Of this, ADC explained that about N5.4 trillion went to the federal government, N5.4 trillion to states, and N3.9 trillion to local governments.
States alone, reportedly, received N47.25 trillion in FAAC allocations between 2023 and 2025, rising from N10.09 trillion in 2023 to N15.26 trillion in 2024, and N21.90 trillion in 2025. Monthly FAAC distributions, according to ADC, have since crossed N2 trillion, compared with less than N1 trillion around the period before subsidy removal.
ADC stated, “The contradiction is impossible to ignore. The government is counting trillions while Nigerian families are counting the meals they can afford. If governments are receiving substantially more money, why are Nigerians getting substantially less food to eat?
“Before asking Nigerians for four more years, Senator Yari and the APC must answer one question: after N15.8 trillion in additional resources, record FAAC allocations and three years of unprecedented sacrifice, are Nigerians better off?”
The party said the situation was even more troubling because increased revenues appeared to have led only to increased government borrowing. About 20 states, it stressed, reportedly borrowed N458 billion in 2025 despite the surge in FAAC receipts.
ADC stated, “After N47.25 trillion to states in three years, Nigerians have a right to ask: where are the results? If states received an additional N5.4 trillion from the reforms, let the government publish the projects. Show Nigerians the schools, hospitals, roads, and mass-transit systems that their sacrifice paid for.”
