APC accuses FG of moves to hike fuel prices

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the PDP-led Federal Government of acting out a clandestine script to increase fuel prices through the back door.
It stated that the ongoing nationwide fuel scarcity may have been induced to make higher fuel prices a fait accompli for Nigerians.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the fact that the scarcity had persisted despite the claims and counter-claims by the government and the oil marketers, and the measures purportedly taken by the government to ameliorate the situation, was the clearest indication of official deception.
‘’The more fuel trucks the government claims to have sent to major cities to ease the scarcity, the more difficult it is for Nigerians to obtain the product. This is an old trick and Nigerians should not be hoodwinked into believing there will be no increase in fuel prices. The only deterrent is to let the government know Nigerians will resist any price hike.
‘’The truth is that with the elections approaching, the PDP-led Federal Government is desperately seeking all possible avenues to raise funds for its usual electoral shenanigans, and increasing fuel prices has always been an
attractive option to the government, not minding what the impact it will have on the same people it has impoverished since 1999,’’ it said.
The APC said the lingering scarcity had forced many Nigerians to pay as much as N120 per litre on fuel.
’The next refrain from the government will be that only higher prices will guarantee the availability of the product, and that many marketers are unwilling to import the product because of low profit margin. We urge Nigerians not to swallow this bait,’’ the party stated.
It commended the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for its timely warning
against any plan to hike fuel prices, saying the Jonathan administration’s assurances that fuel prices would not be increased “are not worth anything because the government is credibility-deficient.”