Atiku Calls Tinubu Government’s 90-Day Cost Of Living Relief A Scam

African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has described President Bola Tinubu’s 90-day cost-of-living reduction plan as a rip-off and election bait, saying its deadline falls after Nigerians would have voted.

Addressing a world press convention on the ADC Secretariat on Friday, Atiku’s media aide, Phrank Shaibu, who can be Director of Strategic Communication of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, mentioned the timing of the plan uncovered its political motive.

“The presidential election is 86 days away. Yet President Bola Tinubu’s National Economic Council has introduced a cost-of-living plan that can run for 90 days.

“The arithmetic is obvious: the plan ends after Nigerians have voted. After three and a half years of hardship, this authorities is asking households to hold one other promise into the polling sales space and watch for reduction till the votes are counted.

READ ALSO: NEC Endorses 90-Day Action Plan To Ease Cost Of Living

“This is election bait. Tinubu is offering hungry Nigerians the promise of affordable food, but the promised relief comes with a deadline that outlasts the election. The message is simple: vote first; relief later. Nigerians should refuse the bait and judge this government by the three and a half years they have already lived through,” Shaibu mentioned.

He mentioned the plan lists 5 priorities: meals affordability, tax harmonisation, completion of essential tasks, elimination of funding bottlenecks and family assist, however famous that these are the very issues Nigerians have demanded the federal government deal with because it took workplace.

“Families have minimize meals. Workers spend extra of their wages attending to work. Manufacturers wrestle to provide, and companies have closed. Tinubu can not erase three and a half years of hardship with a 90-day announcement.

“When he eliminated the petrol subsidy, the affect on transport, meals and manufacturing prices was predictable. Protection for weak households ought to have come alongside that call. Instead, the federal government imposed the prices instantly and left Nigerians to attend for the advantages. Now, after years of hardship, it has abruptly found that individuals want inexpensive meals.

“A government cannot put a 90-day deadline on hunger, the cost-of-living crisis and insecurity and call it an economic policy,” he mentioned.

Shaibu, who spoke for Atiku, additionally faulted Tinubu’s deliberate go to to Kaduna to launch his re-election marketing campaign, recalling the tragedies the state has endured beneath his presidency.

“On 3 December 2023, an Army drone struck civilians gathered for a Maulud celebration in Tudun Biri. At least 85 individuals had been killed. Tinubu despatched his Vice President to go to survivors; he didn’t go himself to take a seat with households mourning their useless.

“In September 2024, residents of Giwa reported that one other navy airstrike killed no less than 24 civilians. Families in Kajuru have buried family members and looked for family kidnapped by bandits. In September 2025, an assault involving kidnapping in Kachia affected 152 individuals; eight deaths and 9 accidents had been recorded.

“Kaduna has additionally suffered devastating storms and floods. In July 2025, windstorms and rain affected 6,172 individuals and broken lots of of shelters throughout 5 native authorities areas. In September, flooding in Zaria affected 476 individuals and left dozens injured.

“When households had been burying their useless, trying to find their kids and clearing wreckage from their houses, Kaduna wanted the eye of its President. Yet the Presidency’s account of Tinubu’s September 2025 go to listed a marriage and a courtesy name. Now, with an election approaching, he’s returning to launch a marketing campaign.

“Tinubu can discover his solution to Kaduna for a marriage. He can discover his approach there for votes. Why was he absent when grieving households wanted their President?

“He must not turn those families into a backdrop for a campaign celebration. Before asking Kaduna for another mandate, he should explain what has been done for the victims of Tudun Biri, what became of investigations into civilian deaths and how his government will protect communities still threatened by abduction,” he mentioned.

Shaibu mentioned the identical sample of grand bulletins and little reduction was evident within the authorities’s gas promotion.

“NNPC started a petroleum low cost promotion on 1 October, which the federal government later introduced as a part of its reduction effort. I visited NNPC Retail stations myself. Attendants instructed me there was no low cost, and I purchased petrol at ₦1,405 per litre.

“With barely per week left earlier than the provide expires, my expertise as a buyer was easy: a promise of reduction, and a better worth on the pump. If NNPC says motorists can entry a reduction by an app, it should clarify why clients arriving at its stations had been instructed there was none. How many purchasers obtained the low cost? At which stations? How many litres had been offered on the decreased worth? Publish the figures.

“NNPC has about 900 retail stations in a rustic the place Nigerians purchase petrol from 1000’s of retailers. What attain can a ₦66-per-litre promotion have when it’s confined to that community? And what lasting reduction does ₦66 provide households whose transport and meals payments stay excessive?

“Tinubu announces relief at a podium. Nigerians arrive at the pump and pay more. Now his government expects the country to trust another announcement, this time with a 90-day deadline,” he mentioned.

He mentioned the timing was not possible to disregard, noting that Atiku Abubakar has made the cost-of-living disaster central to his marketing campaign and pledged to make Nigeria inexpensive once more.

“Tinubu’s government is trying to appropriate that message with a plan that runs through the election. Nigerians should not trade three and a half years of lived hardship for three months of promises,” Shaibu mentioned.

The ADC marketing campaign demanded solutions on the federal government’s 5 priorities:

“Food affordability: Which prices will fall for farmers, transporters and merchants? When will households see decrease costs available in the market, and what’s going to maintain meals inexpensive after 90 days?

“Tax harmonisation: Which prices will probably be eliminated or mixed, and when? The authorities should publish the total tax schedule and clarify whether or not right now’s promise of reduction will probably be adopted by larger prices after the election.

“Important tasks: Which tasks will probably be accomplished inside 90 days? Where are they, how a lot stays to be paid, and when will the general public be capable of use them? A challenge is full when it serves individuals, not when it’s marked full on a authorities dashboard.

“Investment bottlenecks: Which obstacles will the federal government take away in 90 days? Manufacturers want dependable energy, workable transport prices and entry to inexpensive finance. Businesses can not reopen, make investments or rent on the power of a press launch.

“Household support: Who qualifies? How much will each household receive? When will payments begin, and what happens after day 90? Publish the eligibility rules, the budget and the payment method.”

Shaibu additionally raised concern over a registration type being distributed beneath the identify “Arise for Tinubu 2027,” which asks for voter identification, financial institution particulars and cellphone numbers.

“Who is amassing this delicate private info, how will it’s used, and is the train related to the family assist the federal government has introduced?

“No Nigerian should have to hand over voter or bank details to a political group to receive public relief. The government must state clearly whether this registration exercise is connected to any publicly funded programme. If it is not, it must explain how it will prevent household support from being used to recruit voters or collect their data,” he mentioned.

He mentioned Nigerians have carried the burden of the federal government’s reforms and have each proper to demand proof that the promised advantages will attain them and proceed after election day.

“People don’t reject reform as a result of they fail to grasp it. They reject being instructed to sacrifice right now for reduction that by no means arrives — or arrives with an expiry date.

“Atiku Abubakar has pledged to make Nigeria inexpensive once more by disciplined public spending, focused reduction for households, decrease prices of manufacturing and transferring important items, and an economic system the place Nigerian producers can develop and make use of extra individuals. Economic coverage must be judged by what households can afford, not by what number of deadlines a authorities declares.

“Tinubu should reply two questions: Are Nigerians higher off than they had been in May 2023? And will they nonetheless be capable of afford meals on day 91 of his plan?

“Until he can reply each, Nigerians have each cause to see this 90-day train for what it’s: a political timetable dressed up as financial reduction.

“President Tinubu made life expensive. Atiku Abubakar will make life affordable again.”