The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Bola Tinubu would have lost the election, according to the former president Muhammadu Buhari, who on Monday finally spoke out about the ‘challenge’ he set for his successor to remove the fuel subsidy.
However, in a statement issued via his former spokesperson Garba Shehu, Buhari praised the new administration’s efforts to terminate the subsidy and standardize the naira exchange rate.
Shehu said that the assertion was made in reaction to criticism from certain individuals who questioned why it took Tinubu just a few weeks to end the subsidy but Buhari took years.
He said that if the Petroleum Industry Act, which removed the gasoline subsidy, had been put into effect sooner, the governing party would have lost the 2023 election.
Shehu asked: “Why did it take the new Tinubu/Shettima presidency weeks to remove the petrol subsidy, when Buhari didn’t do so for years,” in a statement headed “Buhari Didn’t Fail To Remove Subsidy.”
“The enormous power subsidy, the false fertilizer subsidy, the subsidies for Hajj/Christian pilgrims…Recall them? We discovered existing subsidy schemes for diesel, aviation fuel, LPFO, kerosene, cooking gas, and other fuels, and we placed them firmly in place.Recall them?
For those who have short memories, many of these subsidies were already in place when President Buhari was elected in 2015; all of them were eliminated by May 2023, including the annual fertiliser subsidy, which weighed N60–N100 billion (that’s a trillion naira in about 10 years, yes, you read that right) heavily on the federal budget each year.
“So, no. Buhari did not eliminate the gasoline subsidy, but he did do away with every other outrageous, budget-busting, and economic growth-stifling subsidy along the way.
“So far, I have declined to respond to these frequent queries about why Buhari “failed” to remove subsidies for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Nigeria and those resulting from the naira’s dual rates in the Central Bank and the underground market.
“First of all, in my opinion, the party, the APC, is more prepared to respond to this topic than the previous President. In the event that we fail to accomplish this, we are compelled to state the following.
“Secondly, we are aware that with a Tinubu/Shettima presidency now in place and a “new sheriff in town,” we do not want to divert them from the difficult tasks that they and the country must do. Furthermore, we have no desire to diminish their importance in any manner.
“The Tinubu/Shettima government has done overwhelmingly well in terms of the timeliness of the choices to abolish gasoline subsidies and unify the currency. More significantly, they have done a great job of handling the choices’ consequences by averting any crises.
To this end, we hope and pray that our countrymen will continue to support the new leadership in making these admirable decisions. In particular, we ask that they collaborate with the labor leadership and civil society to make sure that the palliative efforts are carried out as promised.
“The President did not have exclusive authority to decide whether to eliminate subsidies, as was the case in our instance and, in our opinion, in all circumstances.
“That’s why it’s crucial that we remind ourselves — and everyone else who has conveniently forgotten — that the Buhari government has been on this course from the very beginning in 2015.
“Cued and put on hold was the removal of naira and PMS subsidies. Take a look at the Petroleum Industry Act, for instance. The crucial choice was postponed until later. It could not have happened now because no respectable leader would have fueled the fire at a time when national tensions were already high.
Many people, including those in the security community, believe that only a new administration with a plenty of goodwill can do this. This is where the Tinubu administration’s wit and tenacity come into play.
Last but not least, we need to be politically honest with ourselves. Because the APC needed to win the election, the Buhari government was unable to complete its term. And that would have been the case for any political party running for re-election with a new leader in place.
“Poll after poll indicated that if the choice, as envisioned by the new Petroleum Industry Act, been taken, the party would have been removed from government.
“Now that the election is over, we are in the greatest position to go ahead with a strong leader in place as we now have. After these significant economic and financial choices, we have complete faith that the new government will lead the country and all of its people towards a secure future.
“There are times when losing is necessary in order to win,”