Anti-Sabotage Group Backs Tinubu Over Plan to Remove Fuel Subsidy if Elected
- Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's comments that petrol subsidy has to go in 2023 continue to generate reactions
- A citizens-led organisation says it stands by the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate for his stance
- Petrol subsidy is projected to gulp about N7 trillion if the Nigerian government continues to sustain it
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FCT, Abuja - A citizens-led anti-sabotage organisation under the aegis of The Natives has commended the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, for his public declaration that he will remove fuel subsidy if elected as president in the 2023 general elections.
However, the anti-sabotage group promised to stand by Tinubu to carry out the plan and hold him accountable to ensure he fulfilled the promise if elected president.
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While speaking at a business luncheon in Lagos on Thursday, December 22, the APC presidential candidate promised to remove fuel subsidies if elected, no matter the length of protest by Nigerian workers.
Tinubu said:
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"How can we be subsidising fuel consumption of Cameroon, of Niger, of Benin Republic. No matter how long you protest, we are going to remove subsidy."
But responding to the promise after an assessment parley with its regional commissioners known as the G-43, National Leader and President General of The Natives, Hon. Smart Edwards commended the APC candidate for the 'courageous statement.'
In a statement sent to Legit.ng on Saturday, December 24, the group with large membership across all the 774 Local Government Areas in the country lamented that Nigeria is losing over N5 trillion to a few cartels in the name of subsidy every year.
Part of the statement read:
"Our message to the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that if he wins the forthcoming election and anytime is ready as a president, we will stand with him, it is a bold statement he must keep and if he is elected we will hold him accountable for this.
"We are citizens, and we know what we want is development, infrastructure, and growth in a secure country, not a group of people fleecing out our resources in the name of subsidy. The truth is subsidy must go.
"We, however, call on the Labour Unions, Civil Society Organisations and youngsters to prepare their minds and show understanding because removal of fuel subsidy is a policy long overdue; the sector is caged and must be unbundled.
''We cannot be offering cooperation to saboteurs to arbitrarily unleash untold hardship on us as citizens year in and year out. This evil work by the saboteurs must come to an end."
Fuel scarcity: How The Natives monitored against sabotage nationwide
Legit.ng had earlier reported that The Natives defended Nigerians from being shortchanged by some cartels in the oil sector during the last fuel scarcity.
The group mobilised for a monitoring body across the country against saboteurs at the time.
The Natives, a citizens' joint action, comprises student bodies, youth groups, local communities, NGOs, CSOs and other interest groups.
Fuel scarcity: The Natives vow to work with NNPC, expose saboteurs
Earlier, the citizens-led organisation assured Nigerians that it would work with the leadership of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to expose oil cartels and saboteurs responsible for perennial fuel scarcity across the country.
The group also commended the Department of State Services (DSS) over its recent intervention to end the artificial scarcity of fuel by marketers across the country.
The nationals said the DSS intervention has been productive and drastically reduced the hardship motorists were going through due to long queues in filling stations.
Source: Legit.ng
