In 2012, when former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to remove fuel subsidy, a fiery Bola Ahmed Tinubu stood at the barricades with Nigerians. Then a voice of the opposition, he declared subsidy removal a cruel betrayal of the poor. He coined the phrase “Jonathan Tax”—a phrase that echoed in newspapers, protest grounds, and among market women struggling to buy kerosene.
Tinubu thundered: “The people now pay a steep tax for voting him into office. The removal of the subsidy is the Jonathan tax. Because he is slave to wrong-headed economics, the people will become enslaved to greater misery. This crisis will bear his name and will be his legacy.”
Fast-forward to 2025. The same man who rallied against Jonathan’s policy now presides over Nigeria, not only after abolishing fuel subsidy on his very first day in office, but now adding a 5 percent fuel tax—a levy that has instantly increased pump prices by about ₦45 per litre. The irony is staggering. The activist of yesterday has become the enforcer of today.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), over 133 million Nigerians—65% of the population—live in multidimensional poverty. Food inflation is already at record highs, transportation costs are unbearable, and households are collapsing under rent and school fees. Yet the government, despite meeting its annual tax revenue targets by September, insists on squeezing more out of empty pockets.
Tinubu once called subsidy removal “elitist economics.” He said the policy punished the masses while shielding the privileged. But now, under his watch, the poorest Nigerians are being told to bear yet another surcharge, while the political class enjoys convoys, estacodes, and subsidies on their own luxury lifestyles.
The Opposition Tinubu vs. The Presidential Tinubu
Imagine if Tinubu were in opposition today. He would be calling press conferences daily. He would accuse the government of “wrong-headed economics.” He would march in solidarity with labour unions, demanding that leaders feel the pain of the people. He would probably be standing at Ojota or Freedom Park, megaphone in hand, chanting slogans against tyranny.
Instead, he is the president who, with the stroke of a pen, has placed a fuel tax burden on Nigerians already battered by inflation. The same man who mocked Jonathan’s subsidy removal as “a midnight ambush on the poor” has now executed his own ambush, broad daylight, and called it reform.
Politics or Punishment?
The question is simple: why does Tinubu need more taxes after declaring that Nigeria has already met its tax expectations for the year? If the government has all the money it needs by September, what is this extra tax for? Development? Or politics? Or perhaps, as many fear, another slush fund hidden behind the rhetoric of reform?
The contrast is painful. Yesterday, Tinubu was the shield of the poor. Today, he is the sword against them. Yesterday, he called subsidy removal elitist. Today, he practices the same elitism—only worse, because the hardship is deeper, the hunger more biting, and the betrayal sharper.
The Legacy Question
Tinubu once predicted Jonathan’s legacy: “This crisis will bear his name.” In a twist of fate, that prophecy has come full circle. The present fuel tax—already baptized in the streets as the “Tinubu Tax”—is shaping his own legacy. Nigerians will remember not only the day he removed subsidy but the day he added tax on top of poverty.
The man who built his political career by opposing oppression is now accused of institutionalizing it. From “Jonathan Tax” to “Tinubu Tax,” history has flipped the script. The only difference is that, this time, Nigerians no longer have Tinubu in opposition to speak for them.