Nigeria, Aug. 23 -- In the architecture of modern political opportunism, few spectacles rival the breathtaking hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar's recent policy pivot.

To watch a self-styled statesman - who less than four years ago cast himself as an uncompromising apostle of market-driven reform - scramble to promise the reintroduction of petrol subsidies is nothing short of political apostasy.

This isn't merely a tactical policy disagreement; it is a sordid, stingy manipulation of the public psyche, designed to hoodwink unsuspecting citizens through an unpardonable exploitation of temporary economic pain.

Atiku's vacillation stands as a monument to a fading presidential ambition gone completely awry, exposing a man willing to burn d...