Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of lying to foreign countries about the removal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria.

In a statement on Sunday, Atiku said Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, Qatar, and France, where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies.

Speaking further, Atiku said despite the claims of removing fuel subsidy, petrol scarcity continues to remain a major challenge in Nigeria.

He slammed the Bola Tinubu administration for implementing a sham subsidy regime, as revealed in the financial statement recently released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

“Tinubu visited the FMDQ in New York, visited Qatar, visited France where he told lies about removing petrol subsidies. Obviously, this is not a man who is serious about attracting FDI. More worrisome is that he is not even brave enough to admit that subsidy is being paid. The NNPCL admits that N7.8tn is owed to the national oil company by the Nigerian government.

“IMF estimates that subsidy payments this year will constitute 3% of GDP, which is about $7.5bn. This will be about N11.8tn. Yet, the petrol scarcity continues to linger while the Tinubu administration continues to frustrate the Dangote Refinery and even its own NNPCL facilities. Obviously, the subsidy regime has become an even wider conduit pipe through which monies for funding the 2027 election will come from,” Atiku said.