PDP lacks moral authority to query Buhari over fuel price hike —APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said on Sunday the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lacked the moral authority to query the Federal Government over the recent removal of petrol subsidy.

The opposition party has been criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration over the recent removal of petrol subsidy and adjustment of electricity tariff.

The party also knocked the president for comparing the price of petrol in Nigeria with Saudi Arabia and other countries in his independence anniversary address last Thursday.

But in a statement issued by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the APC said it was baffling that the PDP had to be told it did not have any moral authority to caution or query the government on the matter.

The party said the subsidy regime and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) have been transparent under the present government unlike what transpired during PDP administrations when the corporation owed the government up to N704 billion for gross violations of the subsidy scheme.

The statement read: “Between 2006 and 2013, PDP governments spent over N5.42 trillion on subsidy, which was 15.57 percent higher than the 2014 national budget of N4.69 trillion.

“It was also under the PDP government that the number of fuel importers rose from five in 2006 to 10 in 2007, 19 in 2008 and spiked up to 140 in 2011. This was one of the biggest causes of corruption because many firms only existed on paper and collected subsidies on fuel that never existed.

“To make matters worse, 60 million barrels of oil valued was stolen under the watch of PDP controlled NNPC between 2009 and 2012. The NNPC during the PDP years also failed to remit $20 billion in oil revenues owed to the nation, which was confirmed by PwC and Deloitte investigative reports.

“The PDP has no genuine reason to cry wolf or display moral authority over subsidy under the Buhari administration.”

APC described attacks on the president by the opposition party over his comparison between the pump price of petrol between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia as naive.

READ ALSO: FUEL PRICE: Comparing Nigeria with Saudi Arabia is ridiculous —TUC

He said PDP’s criticism of the president especially by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, displayed a lack of understanding of the issues.

It added: “He (Ologbondiyan), however forgot that Saudi Arabia pumps 12million barrels of crude oil a day as against Nigeria’s 1.8million, Saudi Arabia has a population of 35million people while Nigeria has a population of over 200million people, Saudi Arabia has 15 percent tax to GDP while Nigeria has 7.5 percent tax to GDP, Saudi Arabia has $750billion in their foreign reserves while Nigeria has only $36billion.

“Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan also failed the simple arithmetic in calculating the cost and standard of living in both countries.

“In 2019 according to the Bureau of Statistics, the 36 states of the federation received the sum of N2.53 trillion as Federal Allocation. Of the 15 states under the control of the PDP, Delta State was the biggest recipient of federal allocation with a total sum of N214.4 billion.

“Akwa Ibom was second spot with a total sum of N169.79 billion gross allocations within the period. Rivers came third on the list with a gross allocation of N154.5 billion and Bayelsa came 4th with a whooping N143.8 billion in 2019. None of these states headed by the PDP governors have anything vital to show for it.”

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