Isa Yuguda, a former governor of Bauchi state has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to go after those involved in the fuel subsidy scam, saying that former President Muhammadu Buhari could not surmount the courage to end subsidy on petroleum products because of fear for his life.
President Tinubu recently ended the multi-billion fuel subsidy regime that has been well criticized by not a few Nigerians as a fraud.
President Tinubu said last week in France that he only acted with courage to remove the subsidy even though it was not written in his inaugural speech on May 29 when he came to power.
For instance, former President Muhammadu Buhari before he came into office in 2015 described the petrol subsidy as a scam, but like his predecessors, he failed to end it for the eight years that he was in power.
Yuguda, who is the chairman, of the Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Congress, APC Professional Forum, said the former president did not have the political will to remove the subsidy despite abundant evidence that the country was hemorrhaging as a result of the scam.
Yuguda blamed the former president for not “defending’ the country he had sworn by “the Quran” to defend.
He said President Buhari cannot claim ignorance of the scam and should take responsibility as the Minister of Petroleum.
He said President Buhari could not end subsidy at the expense of his life, adding that he should have bitten the “bullet” because he was well-defended as the commander-in-chief.
According to him, one of those that benefitted from the scam once told him during an international forum that “he’s tired of making money” from the subsidy scam, and that President Buhari should end it.
The former governor who spoke on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Monday described subsidy as a gang-up against the country by those that do not want her progress.
He said all those involved in the scam should be arrested immediately, and stolen funds recovered to run the country, adding that the country cannot borrow again from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, through the “ways and means’ window.
Recall that Ben Akabueze, the Director General, The Budget Office, said early this year that over 97 percent of the country’s revenue is being used to service loans.
