Osun state chapter of the Social Democratic Party, SDP has described the recent fuel hike nationwide as “thorn in the flesh of the citizens”, following how commercial activities across the country became paralysed since the hike started.
The party lamented that the APC-led government has put the expectations of the masses in trash as what is happening now is far short of what is expected of the government.
The party chairman, Ademola Ishola, according to a statement signed by the Director, Media and Publicity of the party, Mr Taofik Alabi, said “You can imagine a government of less than a year, that promised heaven and earth and based its electioneering campaigns on better living now aggravating the already aggravated agony of the poor masses as if the government has been in existence for a century. If it now completes its four year in this manner, mayhap the people’s pains will look eternal”.
Going back to the memory lane, the SDP boss said “Even things were not this worse during the struggle of late MKO Abiola in ’93 when nearly all the nation’s economies were half paralysed. So, why is it always difficult for the APC government to put things straight and right for once?”
Ademola again noted that the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan tried his best on the issue of fuel as it was able to reduce fuel price from N97 to N87 per litre in February 2015, adding that even at that, the fuel crisis at that time did not last for three weeks before a remedy was proffered.
The statement reads in part: “To the best of our knowledge, what was bad for the PDP-led government’s goose then should not be good for APC’s gander now. There was a fuel crisis during Jonathan administration which was not even worse up to this and we cannot forget in a hurry how this same APC of a thing condemned the situation. One will now surprise to see some APC’s megaphones here in Osun state and Nigeria at large defending the situation they condemned and described as bad during the past government.
“Worse as it may, this party called APC sees nothing condemnable in its action for hiking up the fuel price by over 90 percent.
“Indeed, this government of the day has totally derailed from the expectations of the masses ranging from foreign exchange rates to fuel hike and the ‘yet to be witnessed’. As a party that believes in true governance, we say ‘no’ to draconian rule of the APC and call it to order by doing the expected and the needful, and return the hope of the masses to where it was, if it cannot make it better. APC should wake up from its deep slumber without further delay. If it cannot make the masses again as it promised, it should not break them at will”.
Ademola however advised the Buhari-led administration to stop testing the patience of the masses, just as he also sympathized with the suffering masses for what he called ‘agony of fate’ they presently experience under this ‘misgoverned government’ of the APC.
