Atiku’s Fuel Subsidy U-turn Echoes My Earlier Position,Ex PDP Presidential Hopeful Uchegbu

Atiku’s Fuel Subsidy U-turn Echoes My Earlier Position — Ex-PDP Presidential Aspirant Uchegbu

Former presidential aspirant, journalist and author, Ada Kate Uchegbu, has welcomed former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s decision to make the restoration of petrol subsidy part of his 2027 presidential campaign, saying the position is consistent with a policy she publicly advocated months before the ADC presidential candidate made his declaration.

Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election, announced this week that he would restore petrol subsidy if elected, arguing that Nigerians have not adequately benefited from the savings generated by its removal. He also questioned how the funds saved from subsidy removal have been utilised.

But the development has attracted particular attention because Uchegbu had already made restoration of fuel subsidy one of the central promises in her own presidential declaration.

In May 2026, Uchegbu publicly declared: “I Will Restore Fuel Subsidy, Scrap Harsh Taxes,” placing relief for Nigerians struggling with the consequences of rising fuel and living costs at the centre of her proposed economic agenda. Her declaration was published publicly on May 1 and subsequently circulated by Nigerian media platforms.

Now, with Atiku adopting a similar position, Uchegbu says she welcomes the development because, in her view, Nigerian politics should ultimately be about ideas that improve the lives of citizens rather than ownership of political slogans.

“I am pleased that the issue of fuel subsidy is back at the centre of the national conversation,” Uchegbu said.

“I said months ago that I would restore fuel subsidy because I was looking at the reality Nigerians were facing. Families were struggling with transportation costs, food prices and the wider consequences of the increase in the cost of living.

“If another presidential candidate now reaches the same conclusion, I welcome it. The Nigerian people are the ones who should benefit when politicians agree on policies that can reduce their hardship.”

‘I am interested in the idea, not the applause’

Uchegbu, however, said the debate should go beyond simply promising to restore subsidy.

She argued that any new subsidy regime must be transparent, accountable and designed to ensure that ordinary Nigerians actually receive the benefit.

“The question is not just whether subsidy should return,” she said. “The bigger question is how it will return, who will benefit, how much it will cost the country and how we will prevent the corruption that damaged the old system.”

Atiku has similarly attempted to distinguish his current proposal from the previous subsidy regime.

According to his economic plan, the proposed model would shift government support from imported petroleum towards locally refined products, with qualifying refineries receiving crude at preferential prices under conditions intended to ensure that the benefit reaches Nigerian consumers.

For Uchegbu, that direction deserves serious discussion.

“Nigeria should be supporting Nigerian production. If public resources are being used to cushion the price of fuel, then Nigerians should be able to trace that benefit from the crude allocation to the refinery and eventually to the pump,” she said.

Supporters ask: Should Uchegbu join Atiku?

The latest development has also triggered a political conversation among some of Uchegbu’s supporters.

With Atiku now flying the ADC presidential ticket, some supporters and political associates have reportedly begun asking whether Uchegbu should consider aligning her political structure with the former vice president’s campaign ahead of 2027.

The argument from some of her supporters is straightforward: if the ADC candidate is now promoting an economic policy that Uchegbu herself advocated, perhaps her supporters and political structure should work with the candidate whose platform now contains some of the same ideas.

But Uchegbu says political alignment is a matter that requires more than a single policy agreement.

“I have always said that Nigeria is bigger than any individual ambition,” she said. “If people are asking questions about where we go from here, I understand them.

“But I am not going to make a political decision simply because somebody has adopted one of my policy positions. There are principles, programmes, structures and Nigerians to consider.”

She added that she would continue to engage with anyone genuinely committed to improving the country.

A curious twist in the 2027 race

The development presents an unusual twist in Nigeria's emerging 2027 political contest.

Atiku's latest position represents a significant change from his position during the 2023 presidential election, when he had pledged to remove petrol subsidy if elected. His latest argument is that the circumstances have changed and that Nigerians have not seen sufficient developmental benefits from the savings following its removal.

Uchegbu's argument, by contrast, was made before Atiku's latest pledge and was presented as part of her own proposed economic programme.

That chronology has not been lost on her supporters.

For a woman who entered a predominantly male presidential contest promising what she described as a more people-centred approach to governance, the development is both politically interesting and personally significant.

As the 2027 election approaches, the question may therefore extend beyond who first proposed the return of subsidy.

It may become a question of who can design a subsidy system that Nigerians can trust — and who can turn promises of economic relief into something ordinary families can actually feel.

For Uchegbu, one thing remains clear: she said it before it became the latest talking point of the presidential race.

And now that the idea has entered the mainstream of the 2027 debate, she intends to keep Nigerians focused on the bigger question — not who owns the promise, but who can deliver it.