The All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP has openly condemned the removal of fuel subsidy by the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
In a press statement signed by the Party’s National Chairman, Ogbonnaya Onu, the party says it views the policy as an insensitive action that will further worsen the living conditions of ordinary Nigerians who are already suffering.
According to the release quote: “we have witnessed sharp increases in the prices of food items, transport fares and in virtually all sectors of the economy since the action of the federal government was made public just a few days ago”.
The party says as an oil producing nation, Nigerians deserve to enjoy the availability of petroleum products at affordable prices because as the Federal Government is rushing to remove subsidy on petrol in an environment of a very high level of corruption in the oil industry and a situation where our refineries have been prevented from working can only bring untold hardship on our people as they are forced to subsidize inefficiency in the system by paying an artificially high price for petrol.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties {CNPP} has also resolved to support the mass action declared by the Labour movement in Nigeria, which includes Nigeria Labour Congress, trade union congress and pro-people civil society for their ultimatum to the president to reverse the petrol price to N65.
The CNPP posits that”it is our considered view that this is the only panacea to save our fledgling democracy and our dear country from the unintended consequences of a protracted mass action which may paralyze an already tensed polity”.
From the legal angle, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA has also directed all its members to mobilize effectively and join the labour unions as well as arrange a competent legal team to defend any protester who may be unlawfully arrested in the course of the protest.
NBA has also asked members of the national assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against the president having fallen short of the peoples’ confidence as the president of the country through his unpopular policy of subsidy removal.
In a press statement signed by the NBA President Joseph Daudu the bar members advise the president to as a matter of urgency focus his attention on providing the basic needs for the people rather than introduce policies that will only bring untold hardship to the people
