Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) 2027 Presidential Campaign, has declared that no future Nigerian president can revive the fuel subsidy, insisting that any politician promising its return is deceiving Nigerians. Yari made the remarks on Saturday, August 29, 2026, in response to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's pledge to restore the subsidy if elected in 2027.
Subsidy Permanently Finished, Says Yari
Yari argued that the fuel subsidy is permanently finished regardless of who wins the next presidential election. He pointed out that the subsidy was already absent from the 2023 federal budget before President Bola Tinubu took office in May of that year. Because the National Assembly passed that budget without any subsidy provision, there was no legal or financial basis for it to continue, and any future administration would face the same legislative constraint.
The former Zamfara governor said the sheer cost of the scheme makes a revival impossible. He put the annual figure at roughly ₦20 trillion, adding that the government never had reliable consumption data to justify the expenditure in the first place.
"Nobody can tell you exactly how many litres we need or what the quantity is per day," Yari said. "NNPC, as the government's own company, we challenged NNPC for four years to tell us the exact consumption. Nobody knows the numbers. They project the numbers, and we are paying based on those numbers."
He added that when officials pushed for clearer figures, they were told the data also accounted for fuel flowing across West Africa, not just Nigeria's domestic demand.
Security Spending and the 2027 Campaign Message
Yari also addressed the government's security expenditure, disclosing that the administration spends more than ₦2 trillion every month on arms, ammunition, and surveillance equipment for security agencies. He said much of this investment is not publicly visible but is known to those within government.
He told reporters that security conditions on the ground had improved significantly, pointing to a complete overhaul of equipment available to agencies in states like his own compared to previous administrations.
On the campaign strategy, Yari said the APC would run on its record rather than attack opponents by name. "We don't call any names. Names are not important to us. Rather, what is important is what we are going to do for Nigerians and what we have been doing over the past three and a half years," he said.
Tinubu's Leadership and Re-election Bid
Yari closed by voicing confidence in President Tinubu's continued leadership, saying: "Bola Ahmed Asiwaju is doing the best, and we believe he is the right man for this job again."
Previously, Legit.ng reported that Yari, the senator representing Zamfara West and a former governor of the state, pledged to secure President Tinubu's re-election in 2027 after being named director-general of the APC presidential campaign council. Yari made the commitment on Saturday, August 22, in a statement reacting to his appointment, saying he accepted the role with "deep gratitude" and "full seriousness."
