Joseph Bakare
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of not being transparent with petrol subsidy regime demanding that the President tender an unreserved apology to the entire nation.
The party alleged that Buhari allowed his administration to deceive Nigerians by; “secretly running an over-bloated and sleazy oil subsidy regime as now exposed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).”
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, this demand comes in the wake of the statement by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari. It quoted Kyari as recently saying that the Buhari administration had been running an over-bloated subsidy; which was against the national interest.
“Our party holds that Kyari’s open confession is a direct vindication of our stand that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration has been neck-deep in serial oil fraud.
“The party notes as appalling that while President Buhari castigated previous PDP administrations and announced that oil subsidy existed only as a fraud; he had secretly continued to preside over an over-bloated subsidy regime through which over N14 trillion; belonging to Nigerians have been stolen.
“In Kyari’s words, ‘there are many things wrong with the under-recovery; the under-recovery itself is so over-bloated because we are subsidizing the whole of West Africa. That has to stop.’
“From this, it is clear to all that the Buhari administration had not only been covering sleazy oil subsidy regime; but also an under-recovery fraud with an international dimension.
“The PDP charges the Buhari Presidency to immediately name the West African countries that it claims to be subsidizing fuel for and the amount; so far spent in such hazy enterprise.
“Now that the Managing Director of the NNPC has summoned the courage to make this confession; after our party counseled government officials to stop lying to Nigerians about trillions of naira claimed to have been paid for subsidy; what is expected of the Buhari Presidency is to; without any further delay, apologize to Nigerians, make restitution and take immediate steps to recover the over N14 trillion siphoned in oil scams under its watch,” the statement read.