A foremost civil society organisation, Peoples Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (PATA), has berated a former governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, over his recent claims on the now halted fuel subsidy scheme by the federal government.
Yuguda, who is also a former minister Aviation, in a recent interview with a national television station, had alleged that up till the time of its removal, the fuel subsidy regime was a scam run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in conjunction with marketers and other stakeholders in the oil sector.
But PATA, in a statement co-signed by its national coordinator, Aliyu Pai, and national secretary, Udeme Akpan, on Wednesday, said Yuguda and his cohorts should be ignored as they were opportunists and attention seekers.
The group noted that “it was a shame that Mr. Yuguda who claimed to have served as chairman of a sub-committee between 2008 and 2009 under the economic meltdown period and chaired the committee on subsidy failed to alert the nation on the brazen allegation then, but waited till 15 years after.
According to the group “ordinarily, the interview would have been ignored, but due to the sensitivity of the issue and in particular owing to the long overdue recent removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
“If the allegation is anything but true, we would have called on Nigerians to throw rocks at him as one of those who aided the pillaging of our common patrimony and now wants to be seen as a hero when he is nothing near it.
“It is curious to us that he waited for over 15 years before having a brain reset to make his outlandish claim.”
PATA further said that the NNPC of 2008 is not that of 2023 as the company has witnessed massive transformation all around.
“The oil giant has moved to a profit-making corporation owing to its culture of accountability, transparency and innovation.
“Today, the NNPC has become a world-class institution capable of competing with the best and brightest in the global energy industry.
“It will be pertinent for us to advise President Tinubu to be wary of characters like Yuguda whose political party is majorly responsible for the malfeasance he is tackling today,” the statement added.
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