Director of the Buhari Campaign Organisation Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) has alleged that most bigwigs in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were involved in the oil subsidy scam which dogged former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
He said this on a Lagos-based national television programme, yesterday.
Keyamo also disclosed President Muhammadu Buhari is not paying oil subsidy as it was with past administrations.
He did admit, though, that the Buhari-led government is only paying “premium.
“What happened under the PDP government was that they were paying for products that did not land at all. That was the scam that was happening. It was fraud, the greatest stealing in the history of this country happened under them.
“All the PDP bigwigs were all involved in this subsidy scam. Then, you saw that many of them refunded money. As I said, they were paying for products that did not land at all, they will tell you they have brought product and you have to pay subsidy on those products.
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“The NNPC officials knew, everybody knew that the products did not come at all. What did Buhari do when he came? He said he wanted to cleanse that industry, he said NNPC should take complete charge of importation.
“The government wanted to eliminate subsidy at that time, but, as the price of crude went up, the price of production went up, the price of the by-products also went up; its normal.”
He said at the point when oil was $28 to $30, government was not paying subsidy, but “the difference occurred when oil prices went beyond $43 per barrel, because that was the benchmark. As it rose beyond $43, the delta started, not subsidy. We started to pull away from N145.
“So, the landing cost came to N203/N205 and we are still selling for N145 and the president said you cannot suffer the masses. Now, how do they cover it? Not subsidy.
“The NNPC Act allows the NNPC to make refunds to the Federation Account. In other words, they can spend money and return the balance to the federation account, by law.”
Keyamo also described Nigeria as the best-performing economy in Africa.
“I need to remind Nigerians about the Gross Domestic Product growth. Of the 11 countries that went into recession around the world, Nigeria has exceeded all of them, in terms of GDP growth. None of them has crossed 1.4 to 1.5 percent, Nigeria is doing close to two percent GDP growth right now.
“Let us get that one clear. Forbes Africa has rated Nigeria as the best-performing economy in Africa. The results came out two-three weeks ago; we are the best-performing economy in Africa,” he reiterated.
But, the PDP fired back.
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PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, accused Keyamo of defending acts of corruption.
Ologbondiyan told the media that rather than the PDP, leaders of the opposition party are actually responsible for fuel subsidy scam.
“If, indeed, he said that, Festus Keyamo is speaking off the charge. Is it PDP leaders that put N58 tax on Nigerians for a litre of PMS? How much were we buying PMS before and how much is it sold now? So, it is totally off the charge to say that PDP leaders are responsible for subsidy scam.
“Didn’t they tell Nigerians that there was no subsidy in 2014?
“How much have they paid on subsidy; between 2015 and this year. And, how many did they claim are the number of vehicles using PMS, today, in Nigeria?
“The government that Festus Keyamo has come to defend, apart from being inept, is totally and absolutely corrupt and, as such, he is defending acts of corruption.”
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