BY AHMED AKANBI
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has promised to reverse President Bola Tinubu’s fuel subsidy removal on his first day in office if elected in 2027.
Sowore described the subsidy regime as a scam and said he would restore whatever arrangement kept petrol at N400 per litre or below.
Speaking in an interview with Symfoni TV where he outlined his plans for 2027, he said: “On the first day I’ve been sworn in, I’m also going to reverse Tinubu’s policy. That’s to reinstate whatever they call subsidy.”
”I don’t believe there’s subsidy. We found out that it’s all a scam. Whatever it is that is called subsidy, whatever was there that kept petrol at N400 or less, that will be reinstated immediately,” he added.
Tinubu announced subsidy removal on May 29, 2023, triggering sharp hikes in fuel price, transport costs and hardship.
Sowore said he would not retain any policy of the current administration, describing its policies on energy, education, economy and security as failures.
”There’s no policy of this present administration, the regime, that I would touch with a six-foot-tall pole. Never,” he said.
On corruption, he promised to prosecute and jail public officials who embezzle funds meant for schools, hospitals and roads.
”Sending people to prison is not public policy. But not sending thieves to jail is bad public policy,” he said, clarifying jail would not be for dissent but for theft.
He said officials who divert public money to build mansions in Europe, Dubai or Abuja must be held accountable if Nigeria is to be serious.
Sowore dismissed claims he lacks experience, saying his 2019 policy ideas on security, power, wages and diversification are now national talking points.
His agenda is anchored on SPICER HEAT — Security, Power, Infrastructure, Economy, anti-Corruption, Restructuring, Health, Education, Agriculture, Technology and Tourism.
On security, he backed multi-level policing — federal, state, local, campus and community — with central training standards and federal oversight against abuse.
He warned state police without safeguards could worsen rights abuses, called for better pay for officers, and proposed scrapping governors’ security votes to fund police salaries.
”You cannot give guns to people who are hungry. They are just empowered armed robbers,” he said.
He rejected return to regional government, backed the presidential state system with autonomy for states, defended AAC’s crowdfunding model, and said Nigeria’s progress is key to Africa’s rise, while dismissing Tinubu’s Independence Day speech.