Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar claims that President Bola Tinubu is unconcerned about Nigeria’s hardships.
In a statement released on Thursday via X, Atiku referred to Tinubu as ‘T-pain’ and claimed that his administration’s handling of petrol subsidies caused Nigeria’s present economic catastrophe.
In Nigeria’s social media realm, ‘T-pain’ is a term formed from ‘Tinubu’ and ‘pain’ that has been used as the president’s label due to widespread economic distress.
Atiku‘s statement came after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited raised petrol prices on Wednesday.
NNPC upped the pump price in its Lagos retail stations to N998 per litre, while the company’s Abuja outlets boosted it to N1,003.
The increase in petrol prices has sparked criticism, with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) claiming that the decision will deepen inflation.
A day after the rise, Abubakar stated that the inflation rate will not fall owing to the administration of the petrol subsidy.
Atiku said:
“The haphazard and disingenuous approach of the current administration to fuel subsidy management has been the reason we are in this current economic crisis in the country.”
“As things stand, there will be no let up in the escalating inflation rate, which is drowning the material well-being of Nigerians.
“It is even more worrying that T-pain is undisturbed by the hardship in the country.”
According to the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), the increase is due to the difficulty of obtaining petrol.
PETROAN president Billy Gillis-Harry stated that other elements in landing petroleum goods must be examined, such as the costs of transferring items from various depots to retail outlets, as well as the additional charges that occur in the absence of well-defined laws.