President Tinubu: “Listen to Your Minister for Finance; For His Advice Will Go a Long Way”

Political Panorama Issue No 25

Primate Elijah Ayodele, never one to shy away from calling truth to power, has offered a sobering counsel to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu: “listen to your Minister for Finance, for his advice will go a long way”. What may sound like a routine admonition in Nigeria’s noisy political space should, in fact, be read as a deeper warning about leadership choices, the fragile state of our economy, and the deliberate squeezing of the Nigerian people into submission.

President Tinubu has been quick to boast to the world that his administration has improved Nigeria’s revenue profile, especially from the non-oil sector. On the surface, that is a narrative international lenders and investors like to hear, that Nigeria is finally breaking free from its dangerous dependence on crude oil. But the real question is where is this improved revenue coming from? Is it from productive growth, innovation, or expanded industries? Sadly, no. Much of it is coming from the forceful extraction of money from the already impoverished citizens.

The latest example is the 5% fuel tax. Nigerians have barely recovered from the chaos of subsidy removal. Transport costs tripled, food prices soared, and inflation continues to erode the value of every naira in our pockets. After months of strikes and agitation, the government reluctantly approved a N70,000 minimum wage - a figure that even at its best is not enough to cover rent, food, transport, and basic survival. Yet, almost immediately, Tinubu’s government has devised a way to claw back that meagre wage through this new tax on petrol.

This is not economic reform. It is economic suffocation. In a country where survival is daily negotiated, where wages vanish into thin air before the month runs out, hunger and desperation become easy tools for political manipulation. Petrol is not just another commodity. It is the bloodline of the Nigerian economy. Every bag of rice, every tomato basket, every transport fare, every litre of water carried from boreholes, every child’s school run is tied to the cost of fuel. A tax on petrol is a tax on life itself in Nigeria. By imposing this levy, the government is literally dipping its hands into the pockets of workers and traders, taking back what little it gave under the guise of a minimum wage.

But beyond the economics, this is also politics by other means. Tinubu is entrenching what can only be described as the weaponisation of poverty. By making survival harder, he ensures that desperation becomes the common condition of Nigerians. Then, as the 2027 elections approach, we will see the same script we have seen before. Distribution of bags of rice, conditional cash transfers, and short-term reliefs, all marketed as the “dividends of his policies.” Millions of Nigerians, exhausted and hungry, will be baited into gratitude and manipulated into voting for temporary crumbs. The suffering of today will be rebranded as the miracle of tomorrow, long enough to win votes. And once the elections are over, those crumbs will disappear, only to be replaced with more taxes.

We have seen it before. Nigerians who remember the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the 1980s know how IMF-backed austerity measures pushed millions into poverty, while military rulers preached patience and sacrifice. Promises of a better tomorrow never materialised. Instead, debt deepened, hunger spread, and poverty became entrenched. What we are witnessing under Tinubu is a return to that same philosophy of punishing the people today while dangling hope that never arrives.

What makes this betrayal even more painful are the president’s own words. During his 2023 campaign, Tinubu made a clear promise that Nigerians will not forget. This was a campaign declaration, delivered in Yoruba: “Won ni owo epo maa lo s’oke; e lo fi okan bale, a ma gbe wa’le”. Translated, he assured Nigerians that although people speculated fuel prices would rise, if elected, he would reduce the pump price. Yet on his very first day as the elected president, without solid preparation, he did the exact opposite. He removed the subsidy. The result was economic chaos, a self-inflicted wound that millions of families are still bleeding from. The President also, at a "Business Lunch with Asiwaju", early this year said "Whichever way, by all means necessary, you must have electricity and you will not pay for estimated bill any more. A promise made will be a promise kept. If I broke the promise to you, and I come back for the second term, don't vote for me...That is the truth" . Nigerians have taken note of the promise and will fully comply with the advise. President Tinubu cannot pretend these two vows were never made. Therefore, 2027 presidential election will be a referendum, not election per se.

Leadership is not about selective memory. It is about accountability. He cannot trumpet revenue figures abroad while hiding the fact that those revenues are being stolen from the pockets of struggling Nigerians at home. Improved revenue means nothing if it is built on hunger, frustration, and despair.

This cycle is not new. Under the military regimes, we saw scarcity being used as control. We have also seen it under politicians who distributed salt, kerosene, face caps and t-shirts while plotting new hardships behind closed doors. But today’s Nigeria is even more precarious. Debt is ballooning, inflation remains merciless, and insecurity has shattered livelihoods. Against this background, a fuel tax is not just insensitive but a deliberate act of cruelty.

Primate Ayodele’s words to President Tinubu are not just spiritual counsel, they are a clarion call to the nation. For if the president refuses to listen to reason, then Nigerians themselves must raise their voices. We cannot remain silent while our future is mortgaged through taxes that bleed us dry. We must demand that President Tinubu fulfil his campaign promise to reduce petrol prices from pre-2023 levels. That was his word to Nigerians. It must not become another broken political oath.

The Nigerian people must see through the smokescreen. Improved revenue generation means nothing if it is achieved by grinding citizens into dust. Economic indicators can improve in some areas, while many people continue to suffer in others. The existence of positive macro indicators doesn’t necessarily translate to improved welfare for the poor. True growth comes from empowering industries, creating jobs, investing in infrastructure, and reducing the cost of living - not from treating the people as a cash cow to be milked until they collapse.

It is time for Nigerians to reject the politics of hunger. Poverty should never be a campaign tool. We deserve governance that uplifts, not policies that strangle. President Tinubu may think he can impress the international community with glowing revenue figures, but the real measure of success is whether Nigerians can afford food, transport, medicine, and dignity.

If the president insists on taxing hunger, then Nigerians must insist on saying no. We must resist exploitation, organise against oppressive taxes, and call our leaders to account. For if we do not, we will find ourselves trapped in a vicious cycle of suffering, where poverty is deliberately engineered to keep us compliant. Poverty should not be a campaign strategy. It must be a rallying point for demanding real governance, sustainable relief, and an economy that works for the people, not against them.

Primate Ayodele has spoken. Political Panorama adds its voice: Mr. President, stop taxing hunger. Stop bleeding the people dry. Stop weaponising poverty. Keep your vows. Honour your promise. Nigerians are watching, and their patience is not endless. Do not turn the pain of the masses into a campaign

Watch on the wheel interview with Malachi Ugwo on the 5% Fuel Tax on Political Panorama TV: