“The emerging narratives from the investigative sittings of the
senate on the 2017 Christmas season's deliberate hoarding of fuel products by
marketers, shows that the hardships faced by millions of Nigerians last
December was a deliberate ploy and indeed a well-choreographed gambit by the
Federal Government headed by President Buhari and executed by the shylock fuel
dealers just to blackmail the populace to accept the planned hike in the pump
prices of petrol to a prohibitive figure of N175 per liter”.
With the above affirmation, a foremost Non-Governmental
organization, and a civil rights group – HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIA (HURIWA) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari the defacto petroleum
minister of insincerity and insensitivity towards the sufferings that his
administration imposed on Nigerians through artificial boarding of petroleum
products in order to smuggle through the back door a new all-time high petrol
price of N175 as recently announced by the junior minister of petroleum Mr. Ibe
Kachikwu.
HURIWA also wants the Nigerian government to combat the deep
seated extreme corruption within NNPC including the numerous cases of breaches
of procurement law in the awards of contracts to ghost companies amounting to
well over $25 billion USD which was even revealed by an insider in the person
of the minister of state for Petroleum Mr. Ibe Kachikwu. Ending the VICIOUS
CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION IN NNPC is much more urgent than the ongoing devilish
manipulations by government to arbitrarily hike the pump prices of petroleum
products in a nation whereby ballooning poverty has kept over 100 million as
being absolutely impoverished and unable to find standard three square meals
per day.
“We have always suspected that this government was economical
with the truth when all the key officials feigned ignorance of the
circumstances that instigated the widespread scarcity of petroleum products
during the festive season. The confirmation of our fears by way of disclosure
of a plot to hike the petrol price to N175 which emanated from the mouth of Ibe
Kachikwu shows that President Buhari took Nigerians for fools when he made a
threat in his January 1st 2018 national broadcast to deal with
fuel marketers who hoarded the petroleum products towards last Christmas leading
to excruciating pains and hardships across the land".
“We find it ridiculous that barely 48 hours after President
Buhari pretentiously apologized to Nigerians for the unprecedented and
horrendous existential pains caused by the December 2017 artificial fuel
scarcity nation-wide and also accused marketers of hoarding fuel and threatened
fire and brimstone, this same government was hand-in-gloves with these
so-called shylock fuel marketers in telling Nigerians that fuel can no longer
sell at N145 but now at the most satanic hiked price of N175. This is the
height of dishonesty, callous insensitive and malicious falsehood”.
"Nigerians should by now be reasonably conscientized
following the collective punishment inflicted on all of us by both the Buhari's
government and the fuel marketers throughout the festive period of the last
Year to massively reject the blackmail by this government and to outrightly
reject any plot to increase the costs of fuel. How come that it is now that
Nigeria makes more money from the exports of our abundant crude oil resources
following a tremendous rise in the international asking price per barrel of
crude oil that the long suffering masses are being taxed in the most
suffocating fashion the highest pump prices of petroleum products? What is the
offence of the Masses for voting this government in 2015 that the President has
continued to unleash a regime of punitive economic policies that have deprived
Millions of Nigerians of their livelihoods and now this same government seeks to
impose the most extreme buying price of premium motor spirit which will
inevitably have ripple effects on the general costs of living for millions of
Nigerians?"
The Rights group also called on Nigerians of all walks of life
to publicly protest this sinister plot by President Buhari’s regime to impose
further punitive oppressive economic policy which the planned hike in pump
price of fuel represents.
The group carpeted the federal government for deliberately lying
that it was not paying subsidy like the previous government but was the same
government through the NNPC's allegedly corrupt hierarchy and the Vice
President Professor Yemi Osinbanjo confirmed that it was lying all these while
over the issue of payment of subsidy to fuel marketers.
“This government has for three years failed to stop the
importation of petrol by also refusing to fix the existing refineries in
Nigeria but has continued to bring in substantially poisonous fuel products
that pollute the environment, endanger the health of citizens and threatens the
roadworthiness of the cars plying our roads. Most Nigerians are now facing
health challenges of respiratory diseases being spread by the massive amounts
of toxic petrol being imported by the NNPC and sold at cut throats' price to
unfortunate Nigerians".
“Nigerians must in their millions protest this evil policy of
government to impose the harshest fuel price in the history of Nigeria. The
citizens must exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to civil
protest by making their voices to be heard loud and clear and to stop the
current government from proceeding with this demonic review of petrol price.
Chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees to Nigerians to Freedom of
Peaceful Assembly/Protests”.
HURIWA recalled that the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe
Kachikwu, said that the perennial petrol scarcity and price instability would
only stop when the Federal Government removes the disparity between pump price
and landing cost of the product.
HURIWA further quoted the minister as saying during a
presentation at a public hearing on the fuel crisis jointly organized by the
Senate and House of Representatives that it is shameful that government has
failed to get the oil sector business right just as he noted
that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) became the sole
importer of petrol because of difficulties faced by oil marketing companies, a
situation that greatly affected product supply.
HURIWA however believes that the Federal government of Nigeria
under President Muhammadu Buhari has told consistent lies to Nigerians to try
to confuse the gullible citizens that certain marketers were hoarding the fuel
just as the Rights group said the recent presentation on possible hike of
petrol price has expose the government as being the official agents that
ordered the systematic hoarding of fuel so as to create a general atmosphere of
scarcity that could compel gullible Nigerians to accept just any hike.
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