Towing the same line of campaign promises used by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reiterated that its presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections, Atiku Abubakar will reduce the price of fuel if elected into office.
The PDP said in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, on Thursday that Atiku has worked out a pricing template that will have an immediate impact on the price of petroleum products in the country, crashing it significantly.
The party said further that the Buhari-led APC administration had failed to do the needful in the last three years.
The PDP spoke out against the alleged increase of the official prices of diesel and kerosene, saying the increase will only result in moiré stringent economic pressures on an already impoverished nation.
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It said further that the action will affect most businesses and homes in Nigeria who depend on the product to power their homes and businesses.
Ologbondiyan revealed that the PDP had been in high level talks with top international players in the oil and gas industry, and these talks “have shown that the appropriate pump price of fuel in the Nigerian market, under the current subsidy regimes of the Buhari Presidency, should be within the borders of N87 to N90 per litre as against the N145 currently being charged.”
According to Ologbodiyan;
“The Buhari administration has no justification to keep the pump price of fuel at N145 per litre and watch Nigerians groan under the weight of high prices, while a cabal at the presidency loots the funds meant to subsidise the product.
For every N145 paid for a litre of fuel, the Presidency cabal diverts a hidden N58 which Nigerians have continued to pay since the fuel price was increased from N87 to presumably subsidised cost of N145.”
As expected however, an APC stalwart Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, said the opposition should stop playing with the intelligence of Nigerians.
“The PDP is desperate to return to power but Nigerians are wiser and cannot be deceived by the promises of a party that failed them. Is it a party that failed to make our refineries work that we will believe? The subsidy scandal is still there. Nigerians know President Muhammadu Buhari is sincere in his approach to solving our problems, they will vote him again in 2019.”