“Fuel Subsidy Is Organised Crime, I Have Always Supported Its Removal” – Peter Obi

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi said he has always supported the removal of fuel subsidy because it’s an organized crime.

Peter Obi stated this while speaking with judicial correspondents at the Court of Appeal, the venue of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal on Tuesday, June 6.

He was reacting to the controversial removal subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration which resulted in a significant increase in fuel prices and the cost of goods and services across the nation.

The former Anambra governor expressed his belief that rather than resorting to a “forceful removal” of the subsidy, alternative measures should have been implemented to alleviate the impact.

“I’ve actually been in support of the removal of subsidies right from the President Goodluck Jonathan era, when I was a member of the Economic Management team,” he tweeted.

“If you have followed me very well right from the time I was a member of Jonathan’s economic management team, I consistently maintained that subsidy should be removed because I see it as organized crime.

“People were just stealing the resources of the country and I showed it empirically in my statistical analysis that we were not consuming the amount of fuel they claimed we consumed.”

Using an analogy of a tooth extraction, Peter Obi explained that when a painful tooth is removed, a dentist applies local anesthesia to numb the area and minimize pain.

He said, “If you approach a dentist to remove a painful tooth, he will apply a local anesthetic to numb the area around the tooth so you do not feel pain.

“It’s not the same thing as pulling the tooth forcefully, the pain you feel will be different. For me, I will go with the approach of the dentist, while supporting the removal of the tooth because I wouldn’t want to go through the pain of a forceful removal.”

“Recall that even when Jonathan’s government wanted to remove it they came up with various relieving policies like Sure-P and others. If you read my manifesto you will see clearly how I planned to remove subsidies.

“I will govern with the people and show them statistically and empirically what we are going to save, and what we are going to do using the savings to better the suffering masses.

“The problem in Nigeria is that often government tell the masses to suffer and sacrifice, for a better future; but in future things gets worse,” Obi added.

KanyiDaily recalls that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had threatened to embark on a nationwide strike over the removal of fuel subsidy and hike in petrol prices across the country.