Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, has mocked his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart over his plan to eliminate fuel subsidies if elected in 2023.
In a Christmas message issued in Abuja on Saturday, Atiku stated that Tinubu’s promise to remove fuel subsidies if elected President is a slap in the face to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He chastised Tinubu for promising to end the petrol subsidy after the APC had kept it for the previous seven years and spent billions of dollars subsidizing crime.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls Tinubu promising to take bold decisions to turn the economy around at a luncheon with business owners in Lagos, including eliminating fuel subsidies, which have rendered the country vulnerable and broke.
Despite protests from Nigerian workers, the APC candidate stated that Nigeria would not continue to subsidize fuel consumption in neighboring countries.
He said:
How can we be subsidising fuel consumption of Cameroon, of Niger, of Benin Republic. No matter how long you protest, we are going to remove the subsidy. We can do it. We are educated enough.
According to a statement signed by his spokesman, Phrank Shaiubu, Atiku said the APC flagbearer’s statement is an indictment of Buhari.
He promised Nigerians that if they vote for him in February next year, they will not have to spend Christmas 2023 queuing for petrol at filling stations.
According to the former Vice President, electing Tinubu in the upcoming presidential election will reinforce failure, potentially pushing Nigeria into an existential crisis.
Atiku claimed that Buhari, as Minister of Petroleum, is to blame for the country’s lingering fuel scarcity and that he has failed to provide relief to Nigerians suffering from worsening inflation, unemployment, and insecurity.
The statement reads:
Atiku Abubakar hereby promises Nigerians that this will be their last Christmas that will be spent at a filling station queuing for petrol. Voting for APC in February will be a reinforcement of failure which could push Nigeria into an existential crisis. To Nigerians, we say the ability to change your destiny lies in your hands. Merry Christmas.
With the fuel scarcity now continuing till December, the government has run out of excuses even as most Nigerians are now at the mercy of black marketers who sell petrol as high as N500 per litre. The NNPC which is the sole importer of petrol has failed to live up to its duties, clear evidence that its privatisation is merely cosmetic.
But the biggest culprit in this mess is President Muhammadu Buhari who is the minister of petroleum. It is saddening that he has failed to bring succour to Nigerians who are suffering from worsening inflation, unemployment and insecurity.
It is disheartening that a country that claims to spend $40m daily on petrol subsidy cannot still make the product available to its people. This is clear evidence that the monies are going into private pockets ahead of elections at the expense of Nigerians.
The APC which is running for a third term through the person of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is now promising renewed hope after dashing the hopes of millions of Nigerians for the last eight years.
It is exasperating that Tinubu is promising to remove petrol subsidy when his party has retained it for the last seven years and spent billions of dollars subsidising criminality. It is obvious that Tinubu’s statement is an indictment of Buhari.
Nigerians have suffered too much in these last seven years. A country which has been unable to meet its OPEC quota at a time of oil boom is now witnessing an unprecedented petrol scarcity that has brought economic activities to its knees across the country.
Atiku stated that the ruling APC had set a new record for the longest petrol scarcity in the history of Nigeria, following the importation of dirty petrol in January.
He continued;
The regime of the All Progressives Congress had set a new record of the longest petrol scarcity in the history of Nigeria.
The petrol scarcity started in January 2022 on account of the importation of dirty petrol high in methanol, with the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mele Kyari, explaining at the time that the petrol was brought in from Belgium.
The House of Representatives led by Femi Gbajabiamila opened a probe into the matter but nothing has been heard about the investigation to date. This is not surprising since it is an APC affair.