‘₦3.3 Trillion Is Panic Button’ – Atiku’s Aide Knocks Tinubu’s Govt Over Electricity Fund

The Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has described the President Bola Tinubu government’s repeated rollout of a ₦3.3 trillion electricity intervention fund as a panic button.

Papers News reports that Shaibu, in a statement via his 𝕏 handle on Tuesday, cited that the initiative was first introduced in 2024 during the EndBadGovernance protests as a response to mounting public pressure, and has now resurfaced amid growing opposition activity ahead of the 2027 elections.

According to Shaibu, the timing of the intervention signals distress designed to distract, pacify, and survive the moment.

Atiku’s aide maintained that ₦3.3 trillion is no longer an intervention figure but the alarm code of a sinking administration.

He said, “In 2024, as Nigerians mobilised under the EndBadGovernance movement, the @officialABAT’s government suddenly unveiled a ₦3.3 trillion electricity intervention fund, an ‘emergency response’ to rising public pressure.

“Now, in 2027, as opposition forces rally under the ADC coalition with clear intent to challenge and displace this same administration, the government has once again reached for the exact same ₦3.3 trillion playbook.

“Certainly not a coincidence. It is becoming increasingly clear that ₦3.3 trillion is not a policy figure, it is a panic button.

“Each time the regime feels the ground shifting beneath it, it responds not with reform, but with headline-grabbing interventions designed to distract, pacify, and survive the moment.

“But Nigerians are wiser now. A government that repeats the same ‘emergency’ at every political threat is not solving problems—it is signalling distress.

“₦3.3 trillion is no longer an intervention figure. It is the alarm code of a sinking administration.”