Atiku’s camp fires back at Fayemi over subsidy, Muslim-Muslim ticket remark

Atiku Abubakar's presidential campaign team has responded to former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi's criticism of his proposed fuel subsidy plan. In a statement released on Tuesday, the campaign dismissed Fayemi's attempt to equate Atiku's subsidy proposal with the All Progressives Congress (APC) Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket from the 2023 election.

Campaign media aide Paul Ibe argued that Fayemi's comparison was a flawed argument that sidestepped the substantive economic debate. Fayemi had previously described Atiku's subsidy proposal as a political strategy rather than an economic policy, stating that it was analogous to the APC's Muslim-Muslim ticket in terms of its political nature.

Atiku's camp rejected this comparison, emphasizing that the crucial aspect was not the political implications of the subsidy proposal, but its economic feasibility. Ibe clarified that Atiku was not suggesting the return of the previous subsidy regime, which was marked by a lack of transparency, questionable import claims, and allegations of corruption.

Instead, Atiku's proposal is built on a production-anchored subsidy model that focuses on domestic production and refining.