They’ve All Finally Come Back to Our Position on Subsidy — Sowore



African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has claimed that some of his fellow 2027 presidential contenders have now moved towards the position he has consistently held on fuel subsidy.

Sowore made the claim in a post on his official X account, where he mentioned Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

“They’ve all finally come back to our position on subsidy — Peter Obi, Abubakar Atiku and other hypocrites,” Sowore wrote.

He added: “We never adjusted our position. We never flip-flopped. We have consistently maintained that the subsidy must be.”

Sowore's comments followed renewed debate among 2027 presidential candidates over the future of petrol pricing and whether government should provide some form of subsidy to cushion the effect of fuel costs on Nigerians.

Obi, who had previously argued that the removal of subsidy itself was not the central problem but that the savings from the policy needed to be properly managed, said on Monday that his administration would reinstate subsidy if elected, after addressing corruption.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Sokoto, Obi said corruption was at the centre of the subsidy debate and that eliminating corruption would make it possible to bring back the policy.

The development represents a change from Obi's earlier position during the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association conference, where he defended subsidy removal and argued that the problem was the management of the savings generated from the policy.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has also called for the return of subsidy, although he has described his proposal as a production subsidy targeted at locally refined petroleum products.

In August, Atiku said his position on subsidy had not changed and pledged to restore it if elected.

The proposal has attracted criticism from the Tinubu administration, which has questioned its legal, fiscal and operational basis. The Presidency's position is that the Petroleum Industry Act provides for market-determined petroleum prices, subject to specified conditions for intervention.

Sowore has repeatedly opposed the removal of petrol subsidy and has said he would restore it if elected president in 2027.

In September, he also linked the proposal to his plan for a ₦500,000 minimum monthly wage for Nigerian workers, arguing that Nigerians needed wages and economic policies capable of addressing the rising cost of living.

At the August NBA conference, Sowore argued that the subsidy debate should focus on who benefits from government intervention, saying poor Nigerians should receive support rather than wealthy interests.

The renewed debate has placed fuel pricing, subsidy policy, wages and the management of public revenue among the major economic issues being discussed ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

While the candidates now share some common ground on the need for intervention, their proposals differ on the structure, financing and implementation of any subsidy regime.

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