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We will resist any attempt to shield subsidy fraud suspects – Labour union

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has said that they will resist any form of attempt by the Federal Government to cover up oil … Continue reading We will resist any attempt to shield subsidy fraud suspects – Labour union


The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), has said that they will resist any form of attempt by the Federal Government to cover up oil marketers indicted in the various committee reports on the oil subsidy fraud.

The congress rejected the withdrawal of charges against some of the oil subsidy fraud suspects by the government saying only the courts had the exclusive power to make such decisions.

The president of TUC, Peter Esele, told journalists that the Union is not pleased with the government’s  sudden decision to withdraw the charges against some suspects despite the fact that they were indicated by the various committees reports.

“Congress is worried about the withdrawal of the charges against some of the oil subsidy fraud suspects by the federal government and would want to know what has made this action very urgent now. We had felt that this would have been left for the courts to decide,” he said.

He argued that the persons presently standing trial over the fuel subsidy fraud “does not represent the quantity and quality of the persons indicted by both the Federal House of representatives and the Aig-Imokhuede Panel”.

He noted that it was a plot for the government, to prosecute these persons and use it as a cover to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that it was prosecuting perpetrators of the alleged scam.

He therefore called on the government to be transparent in the trial of all the fuel subsidy suspects so that all the funds allegedly looted from the national coffers would be recovered and returned to the national treasury.

“It should be noted that the amount of money involved in the subsidy fraud runs into trillions of naira but the amount allegedly stolen by those standing trial are presently about N304billion. We then ask what about those who have cornered the other trillions? When will they be brought to trial to face justice?

“If this is an attempt to try these persons and use it as a cover to hoodwink the people of this nation, we want to warn that we shall resist it and it must fail,”

Mr Esele said that they are in support of the budget implementation by the House of Reps but the issue of impeachment is another distraction for the country.

He further added,”Thus while supporting that federal government should pursue budget implementation tenaciously, the congress also added that impeachment proceedings will be a distraction from the myriad of pressing issues confronting both the nation and its teeming population that have presently left the masses in the morass of uncontrolled hunger and deprivation,”