Kwankwaso Wants to Bring Back Fuel Subsidy, Just Not by That Name, and Somehow Obi's Camp Said Yes

So here's a plot twist nobody asked for. Rabiu Kwankwaso, running mate to Peter Obi on the NDC ticket, went on Arise TV and said if their government wins in 2027, fuel subsidy is coming back. Not the exact same subsidy. A different one. His words: "We are bringing subsidy in our own way." Say that sentence slowly and tell me it doesn't sound like something you'd hear from a man rebranding the same product with new packaging.

When they pushed him on how, the actual plan was: build more refineries, increase local production, and get the price down that way. Which, fine, is a real idea. But then he defined success as "for the people across the country to go to the filling stations and buy fuel at a reasonable price." That's not a policy. That's just describing what everybody already wants, using the word "plan" as a costume.

Here's where it gets genuinely funny though. Obi himself has spent years saying, publicly, repeatedly, that removing the subsidy was actually necessary, his only complaint was how suddenly it was done. So his own running mate just stood on national television and promised to reintroduce the exact thing Obi has defended removing. And instead of a quiet disagreement behind closed doors, NDC and Obi's camp both came out and backed Kwankwaso's version. Publicly. On record.

And if this subsidy-but-rebranded pitch sounds familiar, that's because Atiku's camp said almost the identical thing days earlier, complete with the same "not the old subsidy, a new better one" energy. At this point every 2027 ticket has quietly agreed on one thing: subsidy is coming back, we just all need slightly different names for it so nobody can say we flip-flopped.

Meanwhile Obi and Kwankwaso already don't agree on state police either, but sure, one ticket, shared vision, everything's fine.