Former presidential campaign spokesperson Otunba Segun Showunmi has broken ranks with his erstwhile principal, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, dismissing the former Vice President’s campaign pledge to restore petrol subsidy as a dangerous political gimmick rooted in inordinate ambition.
Showunmi declared in Abeokuta on Saturday that Nigeria had permanently moved on from decades of state-sponsored price-fixing, warning that returning to the subsidy regime would drag the national economy back to Egypt.
Speaking during a grassroots voter mobilisation rally in the Ogun State capital, the convener of The Alternative platform threw his weight behind President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid, arguing that the administration’s fiscal adjustments are yielding tangible cash flows to subnational governments.
The confrontation follows Atiku’s declaration that he would reinstate petrol subsidies if elected president under the banner of the African Democratic Congress in 2027, with the former Vice President contending that full deregulation has deepened poverty across the country.
Showunmi dismissed the argument out of hand.
“We have tried subsidies in this country; we started it in 1973, and between 1973 and date, we have seen the result,” Showunmi told the gathering. “If it had worked, wouldn’t we have seen it?”
The Peoples Democratic Party chieftain pointed to the contrasting fortunes of state-owned crude processors and private enterprise, questioning why public money was funneled for decades into non-functioning government assets while private investors managed to construct operational refineries.
“They could not even repair a refinery for so many years, and one private sector person has run a refinery,” Showunmi said. “And some person who is just overtly, inordinately ambitious is saying that he wants to return Nigeria back to Egypt. No! We have left Egypt.”
Defending the incumbent’s economic direction, Showunmi maintained that ending petrol subsidies had plugged chronic financial leaks, driving up Federation Account allocations to local, state, and federal administrations.
“Now you have gotten to the point where there is money in the local government, there is money in the state, there is money in the federal,” he stated, arguing that major structural reforms require continuity beyond a single four-year electoral term.
Showunmi also had harsh words for southern politicians plotting to unseat the president in 2027, describing their campaigns as an expensive waste of time and resources.
“You will never see the moon and the star come out when the sun is out,” he said. “Anybody, especially from the Yoruba nation, who is calling himself anything when the sun is out, is wasting his time.”
He cautioned South-West voters against voter apathy, warning that the region risks political embarrassment if northern voting blocs deliver higher turnout numbers for the incumbent at the 2027 polls.
