The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, were Sunday locked in a war of words over the propriety of President Muhammadu Buhari continuing to serve as Minister of Petroleum Resources, given the attendant fuel crisis in the country.
The face-off between the two parties came as a civil society group, Spaces for Change, expressed concern at the weekend that the passage of the Petroleum Governance Industry Bill, PGIB, could be of no effect to the industry if the President continued to serve as Minister of Petroleum.
The assertion of the group was, however, debunked by another civil society group, Civil Society Advocacy and Legislative Centre, CISLAC which averred that the coming into law of the Petroleum Industry Governance law would make the minister essentially nominal.
The PDP, commenting on the unending fuel supply crisis in the country, observed that President Buhari as Minister of Petroleum should accept responsibility for the manifest failure in the oil sector, even as his government should be held responsible for the exacerbated economic and security situation in the country.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said it was disheartening that instead of being remorseful for its failures the APC-led government was busy dishing out lies and fabricated indices in an attempt to give Nigerians false hope on issues related to the fuel crisis and the collapsing national economy.
The party also said the fact that the Presidency has unapologetically failed to fix a national problem, which in December 2017 it promised to resolve within one week, showed it had no solution but intended to continue to hold the nation to ransom.
PDP stated: “The inherent poor coordination, inefficiency and reported heavy sleazes in a sector that is under the direct supervision of the President, raise a lot of issues and speak volumes of the evident mismanagement of the system for which the economy is now in complete shambles.
“It is an appalling height of insensitivity that the President, as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, has failed to take any decisive steps to arrest the situation, which has remained unabated since the last Yuletide.
“Rather, the sector has been delivered to an APC cabal, whose mission, particularly, the desperate re-election bid, largely accounts for the biting fuel situation and the economic misery Nigerians suffer today.
“It is instructive to state that the Presidency has refused to offer any explanation on the allegations linking the fuel crisis to the exposed siphoning of billions of naira through shady oil subsidy deals and the illegal lifting of crude oil worth trillions of naira, ostensibly to service APC interests ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“The point is that owing to the ineptitude of the Buhari Presidency and the desperation to remain in power, millions of Nigerians are languishing.
“The economy has further dipped in the last two months of this harrowing fuel situation; more businesses have folded up, prices of essential goods are skyrocketing and families are, more than ever before, under intense pressure of meeting economic demands.
“Currently, marauders have chased farmers away from farmlands while Buhari Presidency continue to wax lip sermons on serious issues of insecurity.
“We call on President Buhari to quit this all important ministry of petroleum resources and allow competent hands to save our people from the anguish and pains they have been subjected to in the last few months.”
