NATIONAL President, Vanguard for Transparent Leadership and Democracy, VATLAD, Comrade Emmanuel Igbini, yesterday berated National leader of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Alhaji Bola Tinubu over what he described as misplaced attack on Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu in view of the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.
Also, a former member of the Delta State House of Assembly, Chief Reginald Dombraye, told Alhaji Bola Tunibu to direct his anger to President Mohamadu Buhari and not Dr Ibe Kachikwu. Dombraye said Tinubu attack on Kachikwu was uncalled for, saying he “should rather call for the resignation of President Mohamadu Buhari”. He added that “he (Tinubu) cannot force Dr Ibe Kachikwu to resign over the current fuel scarcity. “Let me make one point clear here; the only reason Tinubu is calling for the resignation of Kachikwu is because he is not his nominee.” Igbini in a statement said; “It is preposterous for APC Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu to single out Dr Ibe Kachikwu for condemnation over the lingering scarcity of petroleum products in the country that has almost grounded socio-economic activities across the nation with no clear hope that the situation will abate very soon. “Whereas we are also very disappointed though not surprised, that almost 10 months into this APC government, the issue of fuel scarcity will linger with not hope in sight, whereas we were in the vanguard of demanding that President Buhari assume the position of Minister of Petroleum Resources in view of the intrigues and the high level of financial crimes and corruption that pervades the petroleum sector of Nigeria. We have also consistently disagreed with the policies and actions of Dr Ibe Kachikwu for the oil sector, we however wish to remind APC Leader Bola Tinubu of the fact that Dr Ibe Kachikwu is not the Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Buhari is”. Continuing, he said; “He (Tinubu) therefore ought to be courageous enough to ventilate his anger on President Buhari (the Minister for Petroleum) if indeed his (Tinubu) anger is driven by patriotism and concern for the suffering and exploited masses of Nigeria as he claims and not driven by politics and survival for 2019 elections”. “It is also very imperative to remind APC Leader Bola Tinubu that the Ministries of Power (electricity), Works and Finance are all as equally very critical to the survival of our nation but are also at very low ebb under the leadership of Ministers Tinubu nominated and who are his core loyalists. The electricity situation is worse than the scarcity of petroleum products. The nation is in darkness with businesses (large, medium and small scales) collapsing and folding up on daily basis due to lack of public power supply”, the statement further read. He said; “Our trunk A Roads are fast becoming death traps and nightmare to business owners and commuters with increasing difficult for commerce across the nation. “The finance and economy is also in very gloomy situation and biting so hard on the Nigerian masses and businesses. “We therefore call on him to rise above partisanship, ethnic and other parochial considerations to condemn anyone who should be condemned for poor performance. We also call on him to use his political connections to galvanize all Nigerians from all sections and political parties to work in unity for the urgent survival of the Nigerian nation. “This is not a time in our nation’s history for any politician or political party to place self and or party interest above that of the nation and her over 170 million Nigerians. There is time for governance and time for politics. This is time for governance and nothing more”