Anayo Ezugwu 
Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Deputy Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Adams Oshiomhole, has accused stakeholders in the oil and gas sector and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources of stealing national resources in the name of fuel subsidy. Oshiomhole said fuel subsidy in Nigeria is a scam andwillneverendunlessthe government removes it.
He expressed confidence that the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will end subsidy regime if elected president. Speaking on Arise Televisionprogramme, TheMorning Show, Oshiomhole said: “Tinubu will remove subsidies in order to stabilise the fiscal policies of the country. He said stakeholders in the oil and gas sector should be talking about opportunity costs since the continued payment of fuel subsidies is tantamount to enriching some fraudulent persons.” Oshiomhole tagged the payment of N6 trillion in subsidy payments as “stealing,” while revealing that the average Nigerian is just scared of the consequences of the removal, not the removal in itself. His words: “Regarding subsidy removal, we should be talking about the oppor-tunity cost.
When I was the NLC president, we fought against its removal for good reasons and it stood at N20 billion to N30 billion during OBJ’s tenure. Right now, it stands at N6 trillion, which is why I asked myself: Who is consumingsuch anamount? “This is about fraud and dealing with opportunity cost. We are simply dealing with stealing in the name of subsidy. As the government, there must be the courage to admit the limitations of state institutions and it is not that people don’t support subsidy removal but the consequences of its removal.
The real devil in the chain is the exchangerateandweneedto take a holistic look at the situation, regarding monetary and fiscal policies.” The former governor of Edo State also expressed confidence that Tinubu will win the presidential election, adding: “The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Atiku Abubakar, will not pose a threat to the candidate of the ruling party.” Oshiomhole, who was clarifying a statement attributed to the vice presidential candidate of the party, KashimShettima, saidAtiku would be retiring to Dubai after the 2023 presidential election.
Hesaid:“GivenAtiku’srecord of movement, that once he suffers a defeat – it is on record, once helosesan election – he moves to Dubai. And so, he is saying because we are confident that nothing has changed. Nigeriahasrejected him three or four times, and even the best partnership he enjoyed in 2019 with Obi did not deliver him. Now, his ticketisnotaspotentasitwas in 2019. “We are confident that, God willing, using the same Nigerian people who had rejected him in the past, they will reject him again. And because once he is rejected, he has a history of relocating to Dubai. That is what the vice presidentmeant. AndIthink Atiku will actually relocate to Dubai, he has been doing it. He is comfortable there. I hope that the ban on Nigeria doesnotaffecthim. Hopefully, he will go there.”
