Fuel scarcity, APC’s Xmas gift to Lagosians —PDP

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party says the lingering fuel scarcity is the first Christmas gift to the people of Lagos by the All Progressives Congress.

The Publicity Secretary of Lagos PDP, Mr. Taofik Gani, said this during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.

Gani recalled that in his Christmas message last year, President Muhammadu Buhari, who was the presidential candidate of the APC at the time, promised Nigerians that that would be their last Christmas in darkness.

The PDP spokesman, however, said since Buhari took over nearly seven months ago, things had deteriorated as petrol had become scarce.

He said, "The first Christmas that Nigerians, especially Lagosians, will mark under the APC will go down in history as one of the worst due to the worsening fuel scarcity. The electricity supply which President Buhari promised last year has not come to pass and those who want to use generators cannot make use of generators as filling stations are not dispensing fuel in jerry cans."

Gani slammed the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for blaming former President Goodluck Jonathan for the fuel scarcity.

Mohammed, while addressing journalists on the fuel scarcity, had said on Monday that Nigerians "are paying for the past administration's sins"

Gani, however, said, "Nigerians know that it is not true that Jonathan is the reason why everything has gone worse under Buhari. The APC has the tendency to claim Jonathan's achievements but blame him for its inefficiencies.

"A few weeks after President Buhari assumed power, he took credit for the improvement in the power sector, saying that his body language had evoked change when everyone knew that it was Jonathan's achievement.

"Now that Nigerians are groaning, the APC is blaming Jonathan. You cannot have your cake and eat it.

In a separate message, the Lagos State chapter of the APC, however, said Lagosians should spend Christmas with the hope that things would improve in 2016.

The Lagos APC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, wished Lagosians a fun-filled celebration in the midst of tight economic conditions, saying the country would soon emerge stronger from its present challenges.

The statement read in part, "While we acknowledge the strictures imposed on Nigerians by the harsh economic realities occasioned by dwindling economic prospects and the past Federal Government's brazen corruption, we feel Lagosians have every reason to celebrate and make merry given the monumental achievements the state has recorded in recent years."

PUNCH.