By Ademola Adekusibe
October 31, 2025
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has lashed out at President Bola Tinubu over the newly approved 15 percent import duty on refined petroleum products, calling it “exploitative, anti-people, and insensitive to Nigeria’s economic realities.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Adebayo said the Tinubu administration was turning governance into a tax collection scheme rather than a welfare-driven system.
“President Tinubu is a clever tax collector,” Adebayo said. “He wants to collect taxes from you for everything, including the oxygen tax very soon. If you’re not careful, yes, the air we breathe. Just give him time; he’s going to get there.”
The SDP chieftain described the decision as a betrayal of Tinubu’s old political ideals, recalling his days as an advocate of the late MKO Abiola’s Hope 93 campaign.
“It is an anti-people decision and a trend in the new Tinubu. The Tinubu that used to be in SDP has practically changed to the side of the money people. They now see citizens as customers,” Adebayo lamented.
He warned that the new tariff would worsen the suffering of Nigerians already battling high inflation and skyrocketing fuel prices. “If you put 15 percent tariffs on imported petrol, who will pay for it? The ordinary buyer at the filling station,” he said.
Adebayo also faulted the government’s continued dependence on imported fuel despite the billions spent on refinery rehabilitation. “The president is the Minister of Petroleum. What kind of chaotic system is this?” he queried, urging Tinubu to “fix the refineries within six months instead of inventing new taxes.”
While the federal government has defended the new import duty as a measure to protect local refineries and stabilize the downstream sector, Adebayo maintained that genuine reform should begin with restoring Nigeria’s refining capacity, not taxing citizens for survival.
