Protest against fuel subsidy removal in 2012 was mere politics — Ex-governor Fayemi
The immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has said the protest that greeted fuel subsidy removal during former president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2012 was mere politics.
Fayemi said this while addressing ex-President Jonathan and other dignitaries at an event in Abuja on Tuesday, September 5.
Recall that on January 1, 2012, then President Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidy by adjusting the pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to N141 in a move that sparked mass protests, known as ‘Occupy Nigeria’ across major cities of the country.
According to him, the last time Nigeria experience economic development was during Jonathan’s administration.
“Today, I read former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview in the cable saying our liberal democracy is not working and we need to revisit it. And I agree with him, we must move from political alternative, I think we are almost on a d£ad end of that.
What we need is alternative politics and my own notion of alternative politics is that you can’t have 35 per cent of the vote and take 100 per cent. It won’t work. We must look at proportional representation so that the party that is said to have one 21 per cent of the vote will have 21 per cent of government. Adversaries politics bring division and enmity.
All political parties in the country agreed and they even put in their manifesto that subsidy must be removed. We all said subsidy must be removed. But we in ACN at the time in 2012, we know the truth sir but it is all politics. That is why we must ensure that everybody is a crucial stakeholders by stopping all these.
Let manifesto of PDP, APC, Labour Party be put on the table and select all those who will pilot the programme from all parties,” he said.
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