…As APC alleges FG’s plot to increase fuel price

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the PDP-led Federal Government of acting out a clandestine script to increase fuel prices through the back door, saying the on-going nation-wide fuel scarcity may have been induced to make higher fuel prices a fait accompli for Nigerians.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the fact that the scarcity has persisted despite the claims and counter-claims by the government and the oil markers, and the measures purportedly taken by the government to ameliorate the situation, is the clearest indication of official deception.

‘’The more fuel trucks the government claims to have sent to major cities to ease the scarcity, the more difficult it is for Nigerians to obtain the product. This is an old trick and Nigerians should not be hoodwinked into believing there will be no increase in fuel prices. The only deterrent is to let the government know Nigerians will resist any price hike.

‘’The truth is that with the elections approaching, the PDP-led FG is desperately seeking all possible avenues to raise funds for its usual electoral shenanigans, and increasing fuel prices has always been an attractive option to the government, not minding what the impact will be on the same people it has impoverished since 1999,’’ it said.

APC said the lingering scarcity has already forced many Nigerians to pay as much as 120 Naira per litre of fuel, which is exactly as the FG wants it to be.

It commended the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for its timely warning against any plan to hike fuel prices, saying the Jonathan Administration’s assurances that fuel prices will not be increased arenot worth anything because the government is credibility-deficient.