Reverse fuel price hike , LP chieftain tells Tinubu

By Adewale Banjo

A former senatorial candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for Lagos West, Moshood Adegoke Salvador, has called on President Bola Tinubu to reverse the fuel pump price.

Salvador said LP was against the hike in price of petrol and called on the Federal Government to revert to the petroleum distribution system of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to reduce the cost of petroleum products.

Salvador, former member of the House of Representatives, who spoke alongside the Deputy National Youth Leader of the party, Abotu Johnson, decried the hardship the hike has brought upon Nigerians.

According to him, there is no reason why Nigerians should be going through the present scenario with the kind of distribution system of the country which he described as one of the best in the world.

He said the network is such that the entire country has been properly covered for distribution.

Salvador, former member of the Petroleum Committee in the House of Representatives, listed the network to include Ibadan-Ilorin, Enugu-Auchi, Auchi-Suleja, Suleja-Minna, Minna-Zaria, Zaria-Kano and Gombe-Maiduguri, among others.

He described as unfortunate the decision to embark on a haulage system in the distribution of petroleum products some years back.

This, he said, has set the country backwards by enriching a few, even as it has made many Nigerians to suffer needlessly.

The LP chieftain, who spoke at a caucus meeting of the Conscience Forum, said successive administrations jettisoned a policy that five percent of daily crude production be reserved and refined for consumption of Nigerians to ease their pains.

He, therefore, called on President Tinubu to direct the authorities to immediately revert to the former price of petrol to stop the county from becoming a living hell for Nigerians.

According to him, countries such as China, Japan, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Ghana, all have functional refineries, wondering why Nigeria’s case is different

In his reaction, Johnson described the crisis in the LP as imaginary, declaring that Julius Abure remains the national chairman of the party.

He said by virtue of judgment of court and the recognition of Abure by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), no other authority can lay claim to the LP’s leadership.