An Islamic cleric has stated that Nigerians will not vote for President Bola Tinubu even if he directs every citizen to fill vehicles free of charge at any filling station.
The cleric described any such offer as deception and said the votes remain for Atiku Abubakar.
The remarks come as the federal government rolls out a temporary petrol price cut at stations run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele announced on Thursday that NNPC outlets will sell petrol at cost for 30 days with public transport operators given priority. He stressed the step is not a return of the fuel subsidy removed in May 2023.
NNPC later confirmed its own N66 per litre discount, started on 1 October to mark the 66th Independence anniversary, will run until 31 October at its retail stations nationwide.
The company said the cut is a customer relief measure tied to high global crude prices and does not restore subsidy or set one national pump price. Petrol has recently sold around 1355 naira per litre in Lagos and 1370 naira in Abuja.
Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress presidential candidate for 2027, has pledged a capped and audited production subsidy only for fuel refined inside Nigeria if elected.
He has called the current 30 day discount a short term move and urged lasting relief on pump prices. The cleric’s statement rejects any free fuel gesture from the present administration as insufficient to change voting intentions.
