The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has launched a blistering attack on President Bola Tinubu, likening him to a "dull student who copied his classmate`s answers" blindly.

Atiku’s fierce remarks followed the federal government`s announcement of a 30-day fuel price discount at all Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) filling stations. The temporary relief measure was originally unveiled by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele.

Reacting to the policy during a press briefing at the inauguration of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja, Atiku accused the president of plagiarising his economic blueprint but altering the structural parts that would make it sustainable.

Addressing the president directly in a video broadcast, the former vice president stated: 
“Wait a minute, Bola. You have borrowed the idea but missed the lesson. You are like a dull student who copied his classmate’s answer. You have done it so blindly that you even copied the classmate’s name at the top of his exam paper and then demanded marks for original thinking.

You copied my production subsidy proposal—nothing wrong with that—but you stripped away the part that makes it work and handed Nigerians a 30-day discount. Where is the rest of the answer, Bola? You see why it is good to go to school.”

Atiku further argued that his original policy framework proposed a transparent, long-term production subsidy targeted specifically at locally refined petroleum products to lower living expenses permanently. He dismissed the administration`s 30-day window as a short-term, panic-driven political gesture designed to suppress looming civil protests and buy votes ahead of elections.

"What happens on Day 31?" Atiku queried, asserting that temporary palliatives fail to fix the core macroeconomic wounds inflicted by the sudden deregulation of the energy market.