By Sadiq Umar – The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “fictitious” the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that it spent N774 million on daily fuel subsidy, saying the figure was cleverly fabricated to conceal an alleged stealing of trillions of naira by the “Presidency cabal and APC interests in secret oil deals.”
The PDP faulted the NNPC, noting that such claim cannot be reconciled with the reality of the acute fuel shortage that has brought untold hardship on the nation, wondering why Nigerians are still paying “as high as N250 to N300 per liter on fuel” despite the subsidy cost.
The PDP, in a statement Monday by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said, “It is duplicitous for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to claim a sudden surge in fuel purchase expenses at the same time that the nation faced the harshest fuel shortage across the country with Nigerians paying exorbitantly for the product,”
According to the statement, the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is a move by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government “to cover huge fraud in the presidency”.
“The APC-led presidency is drawing its deceptive proclivity and concealment of fraud too far; and to think that such is hatched in a sector that is under the direct supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari as minister of petroleum affairs is most disheartening.
“This is the same presidency that claimed to have abolished fuel subsidy payments and even accused the immediate past administration of alleged corruption in its subsidy management. It is therefore strange that the same government can pull out unimaginable figures and claim it is the cost of subsidy enjoyed by Nigerians.”
“We have since charged the Buhari-led Presidency to come out clear on the truth on the administration of subsidy under its watch,” it said, adding: “The question is; why is the federal government cloaking the subsidy regime in secrecy if not to conceal its duplicity?”
