A former presidential aide to former President, Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has termed the historical account of subsidy removal during the Jonathan regime by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, as inaccurate.
Recall that, Obi, before entering the court room for the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal hearing on Tuesday, addressed newsmen and spoke concerning the fuel subsidy removal.
The former Anambra state governor said although, he was in agreement with the removal, he, however, would have handled the process better if he was at the helm of affairs, citing how Jonathan introduced several relief funds to cushion the subsidy removal in 2012.
Omokri, who worked closely with the Jonathan-led administration, has termed Obi’s description of events as inaccurate and an opportunity to spin the turnout of recent occurrences.
Omokri in a tweet on Wednesday wrote, “Peter Obi’s history of how President Jonathan attempted to remove subsidy is not accurate and may even be construed as dishonest. I was there. Right at the Villa. President Jonathan did NOT introduce “relieving policies like SURE-P and others” BEFORE removing subsidy. The Jonathan government launched SURE-P on the same day that the fuel subsidy was temporarily removed, which was on January 1, 2012.
“In the present situation, the Buhari administration secured a World Bank loan of $800 million to pay subsidy relief funds to 50 million Nigerians BEFORE removing fuel subsidy. This loan was approved on May 19, 2023. President Bola Tinubu may be a known drug lord, which precludes me from ever supporting him. Still, he deserves commendation for continuing the policy of subsidy support payments to vulnerable Nigerians, which has now incorporated the NLC and TUC to help in its disbursement, as revealed in their communique two days ago.
“So, there is no reason for Peter Obi to try to spin this using President Jonathan’s name. I am loyal to the Peoples Democratic Party, and I fully, totally, and unequivocally support Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s petition at the Presidential Election Petition Court. Nevertheless, I support fuel subsidy removal. It is the most patriotic thing to do right now, and nobody should try to politicise it and use it to divide the nation. If we continue wasting ₦7 trillion on fuel subsidy, we will never have enough for infrastructure, education and health, and we will perpetually be a beggar and debtor nation.”
