Abati’s slip of the pen on fuel subsidy, by Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
Dr. Reuben Abati’s recent commentary on the renewed fuel queues that were largely absent during most of President Buhari’s two-term tenure, and Buhari’s refusal to remove the fuel subsidy towards the end of his tenure, contained a significant error.
With this error, Abati seems to be attempting to sow discord within the APC, a party rebuilt into a winning political force by His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, and his team, selected by then-President Muhammadu Buhari. In his article, Dr. Abati appears to be creating a political rift between former President Muhammadu Buhari and his successor, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Is he acting on behalf of the PDP?
The main flaw in the article, which undermines its value, is the baseless suggestion that the Buhari administration set a fuel subsidy “booby trap” for his successor, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In Abati’s view, President Buhari’s refusal to remove the subsidy, despite alleged external pressures and the provision of Section 205 (1) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), was akin to leaving “a booby trap for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
This theory is completely unfounded as there is no evidence to support it. It is purely speculative—a conjecture based on unverified hearsay. It may just be another error from Dr. Reuben Abati, which occurs frequently in his analyses of major national events.
Dr. Reuben Abati and many Nigerians will remember that Buhari’s spokesperson, Malam Garba Shehu, stated in June 2023 that removing the fuel subsidy close to the general election could have been detrimental to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The Buhari administration in its last days could not have removed the subsidy entirely because the APC had an election to win. This would have been the case with any other political party seeking another term.”
Malam Garba further explained, “Poll after poll showed that the party would have been voted out if the decision envisaged by the new Petroleum Industry Act had been made.”
Based on these explanations from Malam Garba Shehu, it is clear that President Buhari’s decision not to remove the subsidy was a strategic move to help Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, win the election. This fact alone logically debunks Dr. Abati’s “booby trap” theory.
Dr. Reuben Abati has, in his own article, presented reasons that contradict his “booby trap” theory.
In his typically combative and sometimes reckless style, Dr. Abati wrote, “On May 29, 2023, at his inauguration as President of Nigeria, Tinubu allowed his emotions to get the better of him when he suddenly announced in his inaugural speech that the fuel subsidy is gone.”
In another contradiction of his own theory, the former presidential spokesperson wrote in his opinion article that, “There may have also been individuals around President Tinubu who advised him to take steps that would please the IMF and the World Bank, both of which have always argued that Nigeria could not sustain its subsidy regime.”
The former editor of The Guardian newspaper described the President’s decision to announce the removal of the fuel subsidy as “an impulsive policy decision to please the Western crowd.”
He further undermines his own “booby trap” theory by attributing President Tinubu’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy to “Tinubu’s populism, over-excitement, and lack of caution.”
Dr. Reuben Abati inadvertently clears former President Buhari of his baseless “booby trap” claim when he states in his article, “Tinubu created a perfect storm by removing the fuel subsidy and abolishing the dual foreign exchange rate simultaneously. It is simply common sense. Both moves were populist, but the timing and combination were wrong.”
As it is evident that former President Buhari did not set a fuel subsidy trap for President Tinubu, Dr. Reuben Abati should apologize to Nigerians for this major error.
Salisu Na’inna Dambatta is the National APC Director of Publicity on leave.
