Ini Ememobong, the National Publicity Secretary of the Aminu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to apologise to Nigerians for unleashing untold hardship on the people following the removal of fuel subsidy.
In an interview on Channels Television on Monday morning, Ememobong, who accused the President of hypocrisy, said his administration handled the policy in a reckless manner, as millions of Nigerians are yet to recover.
You may recall that in 2012, President Tinubu, who was then in the opposition alongside key members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), protested against the Goodluck Jonathan administration, which made a similar move.
While concerned Nigerians did not outrightly condemn the initiative, there were concerns about how the policy would be managed.
The PDP chieftain further criticised the move without considering its intended consequences.
“If you come to the issue of subsidy, this president in 2012 led a struggle against subsidy. And so, he owes Nigerians an apology to say that, oh, what’s the difference between removing subsidy then and removing it now?” Ememobong said.
According to him, “The issues of subsidy were not about whether it was getting to the common Nigerians, no, it was about the fraud that happened there and the loopholes that were there.
“That a gentleman who hadn’t entered office yet stood outside and made an announcement, and that day, the price of fuel, the unit price of fuel, went up more than 400%. That is what we are talking about.”
While other countries have initiated similar economic policies accompanied by measures put in place to cushion the effects on their citizens, Ememobong argued that the administration is now struggling to provide buffers, which are inadequate.
“What were the buffers kept before? You are now doing a post-removal buffer, which, till today, you can see that it hasn’t had sufficient effect,” he said.
As for the role of the opposition ahead of the 2027 general elections, the PDP spokesman noted that the party is working on an alternative that will improve the lives of the people.
“The opposition will present a robust alternative policy to all of this. We are taking the research as of today and say, how do we better the bad that has been done? The strategic approach, which our joint teams have worked on, and that will come immediately. We have a platform to negotiate this,” he said.
