Victor EzejaThe Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has called for the immediate removal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Group Managing Chief Executive Officer (GCEO, Mele Kyari, over the incessant hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
The group also demanded that his office should be thoroughly investigated.
The call comes as Nigerians woke up on Tuesday with the news of a sudden increase of the price of petrol from N540 to over N600 per litre.
READ ALSO: Outcry Continues To Trail Fuel Price Hike In Nigeria
CUPP in a statement signed by its National Co-Spokesperson, Mark Adebayo, condemned the fuel price hike which comes after that of May 29 when President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of subsidy on petrol.
The group said that the increase which is over 300 per cent within two months, said that the subsidy removal is increasingly looking like a scam designed to cage Nigerians in a regime of socioeconomic slavery.
It lamented that the fuel price increase has started having a deleterious effect on Nigerians in terms of skyrocketing costs of transportation, goods and services across the country.
READ ALSO: Fuel Price Hike: Nigerians Struggle As Pump Prices Surpass N600 Per Litre
Part of the statement, “It has come to the attention of the CUPP the sudden and surreptitious increase yet again in the pump prices of petrol by NNPCL which has immediately started having negative domino effects on all other commodities and services in the country and further drowning most Nigerians into excruciating poverty and unprecedented economic woes.
“This subsidy removal scheme is increasingly looking like a scam to cage Nigerians inside a preprogrammed regime of socioeconomic slavery dictated by leadership insensitivity. This is not about opposition parties.
“The opposition felt that the president had something better to offer Nigerians after the subsidy removal but what we are witnessing now is a double negative impact on Nigerians in every way imaginable.”
The group said that the way “NNPCL is behaving now suggests that there is a hidden agenda of crazy and unending fuel price hikes that will be driving inflation to the rooftops and making life increasingly unbearable for Nigerians generally.”
Continuing, the statement said: “No purposeful government would recklessly abandon its citizens to the unpredictable and inhumane market forces that are essentially atrocious and callous without a robust intervention to protect the citizens.
“Such a policy is not only antisocial but also outrageously iniquitous. Nigerians have shown enough understanding of the subsidy removal, this administration should not push them to the wall and thereby instigate unmanageable mass crises that could further jeopardize the life of the common man.”
It called on President Tinubu to “show himself as a compassionate leader by ensuring that the NNPCL is not hijacked by the same forces that stole the fuel subsidy monies leading to its removal and finding a backdoor to continue claiming the subsidy by other means and making Nigerians bear the brunt of their economic terrorism.
“We demand the immediate removal of the NNPCL GMD, Mele Kyari, to allow for a breath of fresh air in the organization and for his tenure to be forensically investigated and all discovered infractions comprehensively prosecuted before the NNPCL is turned into the terrorist arm of the economic cabal.
“The government must immediately do something to reverse the recent fuel price hikes and stop any plans to clandestinely increase the pump prices with the predictable value of increasing the sufferings of Nigerians.”
“When will Nigerians be free from the wickedness of their governments?” the group queried.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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