Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove petrol subsidy on his first day in office, describing it as “hasty and thoughtless,” and blaming it for triggering widespread economic hardship across Nigeria.
In a statement posted via his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Sunday, Atiku said the move has “buried the average Nigerian under the weight of inflation, hunger, and despair.”
He accused the Tinubu administration of failing to uphold its promise to cushion the effects of subsidy removal through a temporary wage award to federal civil servants.
“In a bid to manage the self-inflicted crisis, the administration promised to pay a wage award to federal civil servants as a temporary cushion pending the conclusion of negotiations on a new national minimum wage,” he said. “That promise, like many others under this government, has become a broken covenant.”
Atiku noted that while it took the government 10 months to agree on a new minimum wage, only six months’ worth of the promised N35,000 monthly wage award had been paid, leaving a backlog of four months per worker — totalling N140,000 per person.
He commended some state governments for showing responsibility in addressing labour concerns, but condemned what he described as the federal government’s “callous indifference and utter disdain for workers’ welfare.”
The former vice president also decried the continued detention of labour activist Andrew Uche Emelieze, who was arrested nearly two weeks ago for attempting to stage a peaceful protest over the unpaid wage awards.
“Instead of engaging in dialogue or fulfilling its promises, the government has now resorted to tyranny and suppression of free speech,” Atiku said. “His only ‘crime’ was speaking up for workers abandoned by the state.”
Calling for Emelieze’s immediate and unconditional release, Atiku described the activist’s detention as “an affront to democracy, a slap in the face of every Nigerian worker, and a chilling reminder of the authoritarian drift of the Tinubu administration.”
“Nigerian workers will not be silenced, intimidated, or forgotten. The economic hardship is real, the hunger is biting, and the government has a duty to act — not repress,” he added.
