Nigerian businessman and social commentator Isaac Fayose has warned that petrol prices could rise to ₦5,000 per litre if President Bola Tinubu wins re-election in 2027, accusing the federal government of failing to restore Nigeria’s refining capacity despite billions of dollars in public investment.
Fayose made the remarks in a video posted to his Instagram page on Wednesday, amid a fresh wave of public anger over rising fuel prices across Nigeria, with petrol now selling at between ₦1,300 and ₦1,400 per litre in many parts of the country.
What Fayose said
Fayose dismissed claims by some Nigerians that the US-Iran war was responsible for the fuel price hike, insisting that the federal government bears full responsibility. “Many fools are saying we cannot blame President Tinubu for our fuel going up, that we should blame America, Israel and Iran. That is a fat lie,” he said.
He accused successive APC administrations of spending massive sums on refinery projects that have yielded no results, alleging that ₦210 trillion in oil revenue remains unaccounted for. “They’ve spent our money on refineries. 210 trillion is still missing from our oil money,” he said, contrasting the government-owned refineries with the privately funded Dangote refinery, which he acknowledged as fully operational.
Fayose warned that the economic trajectory is unsustainable, predicting that food prices will continue to rise alongside fuel costs due to rising transport expenses. “The way we are going, be ready for 5,000 a litre. And the ripple effect, the price of yams has gone up. Food prices are going up in the market because they need vehicles to bring them from the farm to the market,” he said.
Fayose on 2027
The fuel crisis commentary forms part of Fayose’s broader campaign against Tinubu’s re-election bid. The businessman has separately predicted that President Tinubu will fail to secure even 20 per cent of votes in the South-East region in 2027, backing that claim with a ₦10 million wager directed at the City Boys Movement — a pro-Tinubu campaign group widely associated with the president’s son, Seyi Tinubu.
Fayose has openly declared support for Labour Party’s Peter Obi, predicting that the former Anambra State governor will dominate the South-East and South-South zones in the next presidential election.
Opposing views
Not all Nigerians agree with Fayose’s framing. One social media user, identified as @prinxe_B, argued that blaming the fuel crisis solely on Tinubu was intellectually dishonest, describing the refinery problem as a legacy of collective failure spanning the administrations of Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and Buhari.
Nigeria’s four government-owned refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna have remained largely non-operational for decades despite repeated rounds of rehabilitation spending. The Dangote refinery began distributing fuel locally in late 2024, but prices have remained high, with the refinery citing the naira’s weakness against the dollar as a key factor. Petrol prices have risen from under ₦200 per litre at the time of the subsidy removal in May 2023 to current levels above ₦1,300 in many states.