By Amos Tauna Following the continued fuel scarcity in parts of the country for some months without end, the Amalgamation of Arewa Y...
By Amos Tauna
Following the continued fuel scarcity in parts of the
country for some months without end, the Amalgamation of Arewa Youths Groups
(AAYG) has called for the sacking of Chief Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State
for Petroleum; Mr Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited; and Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Managing
Director of Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
The forum described them as saboteurs who have betrayed the
trust of President Muhammadu Buhari and quest to leave a legacy of easy access
to petroleum products without queues.
A statement issued by Comrade Abubakar Musa Ardo and Comrade
Victor Duniya, Secretary and Spokesman of the group respectively, noted that
during the previous scarcity in the early part of this year, both the NNPC and
Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA)
accused some major importers of importing high Methanolic contaminated Premium
Motor Spirit, with the promise of bringing the said companies to justice.
The statement lamented that till date, nobody has been
punished for inflicting pain on Nigerians.
The statement regretted, “While Mr Farouk and his boys are
sleeping or in active, independent petroleum marketers are selling PMS in most
Northern states as high as N250. This is against the National benchmark and
highly subsidized rate of N165.”
It called on Mr. President to wield the big stick on the
trior of Sylva, Kyari and Ahmed for a clear act of sabotage and an attempt to
pitch Nigerians against him.
The youths also called on the National Assembly to urgently
probe the subsidy regime and compare notes with previous years to dictate the
rigged figure by both the NNPC and NMDPRA, saying that it is meant to ensure
that all those concerns are punished.
The statement enjoined antigraft agencies to probe the
activities of the staff of NMDPRA for possible collusion with Independent
Petroleum Marketers to financially rape the federal government and Nigerians,
as PMS now sells far above the national benchmark.
The statement observed, “We recognize that both Mele Kyari
and Mr Farouk Ahmed are all from our region, there is no gainsaying that they
have failed woefully in their responsibilities, we strongly support change in
guards in their offices as they appeared to have run out of ideas on how to end
the lingering energy crisis in the country.”
The youths stated that if their demands are not met in the next
five working days, they will organize their members from towns and villages to
occupy all NNPC zonal offices and its subsidiaries across the region and the
FCT until they see changes.
The youths said that their demand is not just a mere threat,
saying that they would follow up with full action after the expiration of the
ultimatum and will serve as a litmus test on the part of the government in
their fight against corruption and indiscipline.
The youths noted that one of the consequences of inadequate
supply of the petroleum products in the region is the renewed killings by
terrorists as security agencies are equally struggling to access the product in
most rural communities that are soft targets for criminal elements, regretting
that security personnel are largely immobilized to respond to distress calls.
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