Breaking News : Buhari admits he postponed cutting fuel subsidies to help Tinubu win the election.

publisher June 26, 2023

Former President Muhammadu Buhari has finally spoken out about the petrol subsidy removal ‘challenge’ he set for his successor, Bola Tinubu, claiming that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu would have lost the last general elections if the policy had been implemented.

However, in a statement released by his former spokesman Garba Shehu, the former president praised the new administration’s efforts to remove the petrol subsidy and unify the Naira exchange rate, as reported by Vanguard.

Shehu claims that this statement was made in response to critics’ repeated questions about why it took Tinubu weeks to end the country’s fuel subsidy but years for Buhari.

He claims that if the Petroleum Industry Act, which includes the removal of the gasoline subsidy, had been put into effect before the 2023 election, the ruling party would have been defeated.

Shehu wrote, “Why did it take the new Tinubu/ Shettima presidency weeks to remove the petrol subsidy when Buhari didn’t do so for years fails to ask the right question,” in a statement titled “Buhari didn’t fail to remove subsidy.”

The huge subsidy for power. The phony fertilizer rebate program. Funding for the Christian pilgrimage of Hajj. Do you recall them?

Diesel fuel price support. This is the subsidy for jet fuel. LPFO. Kerosene. We firmly established the existing policies regarding cooking gas subsidies and others we discovered. Do you recall them?

For those who have forgotten, these subsidies existed before President Buhari took office in 2015, but by May of 2023, they had all been eliminated, including the annual fertilizer subsidy that weighed 60–100 billion Naira (that’s trillion naira in about 10 years – yes, you read that right) on the federal budget.

So, no, Buhari did not end the gasoline subsidy, but he did end every other outrageous and counterproductive to economic growth subsidy in crucial steps.

“So far I have refrained from answering these repeated questions on the removal of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit, PMS and that arising from the dual rates of the Naira in the Central Bank and the parallel market in Nigeria: Why did Buhari ‘fail’ to do these?”

“First of all, my thinking is that the party, the All Progressives Congress, APC is best suited to speak and failing to do this, we are forced to say what will follow here rather than the former president answering this question.

“Secondly, we are aware that with a Tinubu/Shettima presidency in place, there is a ‘New Sheriff in Town’ for the issues that have been a focus of the previous administration.

We don’t want them sidetracked from the difficult work that must be done for the good of the country. We don’t want to steal any of their thunder, either.

Timing-wise, the Tinubu/Shettima administration has done exceptionally well, especially in regards to the removal of fuel subsidy and the unification of the currency. More importantly, they have been exceptionally adept at crisis prevention in the wake of these decisions.

To that end, we hope and pray that the people of the country will rally behind the new administration as it implements these progressive policies, and that the Labour Party and other sectors of society will join forces with the government to make good on its promise to increase funding for palliative care.

It was not the president’s decision to remove subsidies in our case, and we don’t think it should be in any case.

Therefore, it is essential to remind ourselves and anyone else who has forgotten that the Buhari administration has been following this course since its inception in 2015.

Subsidy cuts for the Naira and the PMS were signaled and shelved. The Petroleum Industry Act is a good case in point. The crucial choice was postponed until the right time came along.

It couldn’t have happened at a worse time, and no decent leader would have added fuel to the fire if they’d known.

“Many, including those in the security circles, believe that only a new administration with enough goodwill to fill a warehouse can attempt this, and here enters the wit and grit of the Tinubu government.

Finally, we need to tell the truth to ourselves politically. The APC had an election to win, so Buhari’s administration couldn’t go all out in its final days. It would have been the same for any political party hoping to return to office with a new leader.

Poll after poll demonstrated that the party would have been defeated at the polls had the decision been made in accordance with the new Petroleum Industry Act.

Now that the election is over, a strong administration with a competent head of state can best move the country forward. After making these monumental economic and financial decisions, we have nothing but faith that the new administration will lead the country and all its constituents into a secure future.

“As the old adage goes, sometimes you have to lose to win.”