Atiku Abubakar renewed his promise on Monday to restore the petrol subsidy if he wins the presidency, five days after a Federal High Court in Abuja nullified the African Democratic Congress nomination that put him on the 2027 ballot.
The former vice president posted the pledge on X with a campaign video. “I will restore subsidy to make life easier and more affordable for Nigerians,” he wrote. The video, narrated by a woman, said petrol sells for more than ₦1,300 per litre in Nigeria and claimed that citizens of other crude-producing countries, including Libya, Iran, Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, pay less. It said the intervention would apply only to petrol refined in Nigeria, not to imports, and would last until domestic refineries can operate without state support. The comparison with other countries is the campaign’s own claim and was not independently checked.
The price figure is closer to market data than the comparison is. Dangote’s gantry price rose to ₦1,350 per litre on September 12, the fourth increase since August 21, and some stations in Lagos and Ogun sold at ₦1,360 to ₦1,395. Brent crude then traded above $100 a barrel on Middle East supply disruptions. Before the conflict escalated in February, crude was below $69 and petrol sold for about ₦830 in parts of Nigeria. The latest pump prices The Eastern Updates could confirm date from September; no November reading was found.
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President Bola Tinubu’s administration ended the subsidy in May 2023. He announced the decision at his inauguration, saying the government could no longer sustain the cost and would redirect the savings to infrastructure, education, health care and job creation. Atiku has criticized the policy since and made its reversal part of his campaign. He repeated the pledge at the ADC’s campaign flag-off in Sokoto on November 4, alongside promises to reopen land borders for legitimate trade and tackle insecurity. On Thursday, in Kebbi, he promised better security, jobs and restored fuel subsidies.
That Thursday was the day of the ruling. Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja declared the caretaker leadership of the ADC, headed by David Mark, unlawfully constituted. He set aside the appointments of Mark as national chairman and Rauf Aregbesola as national secretary, and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to disregard decisions taken by the party’s 99th National Executive Committee meeting and later acts under that leadership. Those acts include the presidential primary that nominated Atiku, so the effect of the judgment is to void the nomination.
The suit was filed by Nafiu Bala Gombe, a former North-East deputy national chairman of the party. He argued that after national chairman Ralph Nwosu resigned, he was entitled to lead the party, and that Mark and Aregbesola took control in breach of the ADC constitution and the Electoral Act. Gombe has since told candidates of his faction to resume campaigning and ruled out reconciliation with Mark and Atiku.
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The ADC and Atiku’s camp are contesting the ruling. Atiku’s spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu, said he would challenge it. ADC spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi said the party was awaiting the certified judgment, and campaign spokesperson Kola Ologbondiyan said lawyers were preparing interim relief, including a stay of execution. The party’s welfare secretary, Nkemakolam Ukandu, said an appeal and a stay application had been filed; that claim has not been independently verified. Coverage of Atiku’s pledge likewise says the ADC has appealed and sought a stay.
The judgment is one of several legal turns in the ADC’s leadership dispute. After the Court of Appeal ordered a return to the status quo, INEC removed Mark and Aregbesola from its website. The Supreme Court set that order aside on April 30, and INEC restored their names pending the substantive suit. On July 2, Justice Musa Liman of the same court dismissed a separate suit by Rep. Leke Abejide against the Mark-led leadership, holding that it was an internal party matter the court could not hear. Liman and Lifu referred to different dates for the party meeting at the center of the dispute, July 29 and July 27, 2025, and the reports do not confirm whether they mean the same meeting.
The ruling’s reach depends on INEC. As of its October 31 list, the commission named Atiku and running mate Rotimi Amaechi as the ADC ticket, and its party directory still listed Mark and Aregbesola as national officers. Both pre-date the judgment, and INEC had not said how it would respond. Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo blamed Mark’s camp, not the All Progressives Congress, for the dispute. Peter Obi, whom reports identify as the presidential candidate of the NDC, said voters need certainty and that courts should resolve disputes.
Atiku secured the ADC ticket in May, his seventh presidential bid. The presidential election is set for January 16, and INEC has fixed February 6 for governorship and state assembly elections.
