Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the increment in<\/p>\n
the pump price of petrol as one of the gifts of President Mohammadu
\nBuhari to Nigerians to celebrate his one year in office, describing
\nthe president\u2019s one year in office as \u201ca colossal waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement titled; \u201cPetrol Price Increment as Buhari\u2019s 1st Year
\nAnniversary Gift to Nigerians\u201d which he personally signed, the
\ngovernor said the Federal Government was indirectly collecting N58.50
\nnaira tax from suffering Nigerians on each litre of petrol they buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement read; \u201cDespite his electoral promise to reduce petrol
\npump price from the N87 per litre that he met it, President Mohammad
\nBuhari increased the price to N145! With this increment, Buhari has
\nfurther impoverished Nigerians.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians should be reminded that on April 14, 2015, President
\nBuhari\u2019s ally and former Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Prof. Tam
\nDavid-West, told Nigerians that Gen. Mohammed Buhari (who was then
\nPresident-elect), will reduce the fuel pump price from N87 to N40 per
\nlitre. Buhari did not debunk this statement made by his friend and
\nmajor supporter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Dr
\nGoodluck Jonathan reduced the petrol pump price from N97 to N87 per
\nlitre in January 2015, former Lagos State Governor who is now Minister
\nof Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola said N10 reduction
\nof the petrol pump price was too low and that Nigerians will get a
\nbetter deal under Buhari. Fashola tweeted on January 18, 2015; \u2018On PMS
\nprice reduction by N10. Now they listen. Oil the raw material drop
\nover 50%, N10 is just about 10%. Good try but Nija can get a beta
\ndeal.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIn rewarding Nigerians for electing him as president, President
\nBuhari opted to increase petrol pump price by N58.50!<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first justification of the increment was removal of subsidy. But
\nNigerians were later stunned when the Vice President, Prof Yemi
\nOsinbajo said pump price of petrol was increased because Nigeria was
\nbroke!<\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, President Buhari increased petrol pump price because
\nthe country was broke and it needed to shore up its revenue base. The
\nN58.50 added to the previous pump price of N86.50 was an Indirect Tax
\nimposed on each litre of petrol purchased by Nigerians.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply put, the Federal Government is indirectly collecting N58.50
\nnaira tax from suffering Nigerians on each litre of petrol they buy.
\nBuhari is no doubt acting like the proverbial Agbalowomeri Baale
\nJontolo (Aking that exploit his extremely poor subject to further
\nenrich himself).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is on record that on May 2 this year, the federal government, in
\nthe Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) Template
\nreleased in Abuja, told Nigerians that it was subsidising petrol at
\nN12.62 per litre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2012 when the Dr Jonathan removed fuel subsidy and increased
\npetrol price to N141 per litre, crude oil was selling at $111 per
\nbarrel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not wickedness, how can petrol price be increased to N145 per
\nlitre when crude oil is now selling at $49 per barrel?<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreasing petrol pump price by N58.50 when the federal government
\nclaimed it was subsidising the product at N12.62 per litre is clear
\nwickedness on the part of President Buhari.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the history of Nigeria, increase in price of petrol has never been
\nas high as it was done by Buhari, putting Nigerians in severe hardship
\nas the product affects every sector of the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo bad, those who opposed removal of fuel subsidy in 2012 and funded
\nthe Occupy Nigeria protest are the ones canvassing support for this
\nBuhari\u2019s wicked one year anniversary gift to Nigerians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe labour unions are now completely cowed, dashing completely hope
\nof the common people of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cInterestingly, this is not the first election promise by APC\/Buhari
\nthat have been jettisoned since they got into office. The N5,000
\nunemployment benefits promised the downtrodden was derisively put down
\nby this President as “largesse” with the president spurning the
\nemotional plea of his own wife to the contrary. To add salt and insult
\nunto injury, he traveled abroad to make the statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the mindless and indefensible hike in fuel price, the
\ncommodity is still not available. Minister of state for Petroleum says
\nthere is no forex to pay for fuel import; yet there is forex to
\nindulge Buhari’s foreign-trip profligacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresidential spin doctors and APC chieftains labouring to hoodwink
\nthe people speak glibly of how so-called deregulation will make
\nproducts available, reduce cost through competition and the interplay
\nof market forces as well as encourage private sector to build more
\nrefineries. But thank God who loves Nigerians so much, the lies of
\nthese people was by divine arrangement, I suppose, revealed by no less
\na person than the junior minister Ibe Kachikwu himself when he said
\nimportation of fuel continues till 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians should be reminded that the manner of hardship being faced
\nnow was also faced during Buhari\u2019s first coming as a military dictator
\nwhen people had to queue for essential commodities. Now, Nigerians
\ncan\u2019t even afford common tomato to prepare soup.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Nigerians you have heard the truth: Under Buhari\/APC, it is almost
\ncertain that our suffering will continue till 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerians, remember I warned you before Buhari was elected; I have
\nbeen warning you since Buhari became president and I am warning now
\nthat if nothing is done urgently, the economy of Nigeria will
\ncollapse.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has described the increment in the pump price of petrol as one of the gifts of President Mohammadu Buhari to Nigerians to celebrate his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n