Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, has stated that his support for the elimination of petroleum product subsidies is genuine, but subject to a condition that must be demonstrable to the public.
The LP presidential candidate stated that his support for subsidy elimination dates back to his time as a member of the Presidential Economic Management Team during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
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Obi said: “If you have followed me very well right from the time I was a member of Jonathan’s economic management team, I consistently maintained that subsidy should be removed because I see it as organized crime.
“People were just stealing the country’s resources, and I showed empirically in my statistical analysis that we are not consuming the amount of fuel they claim we consume.”
The former governor of Anambra State distinguished his view on subsidy elimination from the national trend.
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He said, “If you approach a dentist to remove a painful tooth, he will apply a local anesthetic to numb the area around the tooth so you do not feel pain. It’s not the same thing as pulling the tooth forcefully. The pain you feel will be different.
“For me, I will go with the approach of the dentist while supporting the removal of the tooth because I wouldn’t want to go through the pain of forceful removal.
“Recall that even when Jonathan wanted to remove it, they came up with various relieving policies like Sure-P and others.
“If you read my manifesto, you will see clearly how I planned to remove subsidy. I will govern with the people and show them statistically and empirically what we are getting and how we are deploying it.
“The problem in Nigeria is that when people say let’s go and suffer, let’s go and sacrifice, they don’t see the results of their suffering and their sacrifice.”
Desmond 43 w
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