Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has described President Bola Tinubu as T-Pain over the hike in pump price of petrol.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) raised the pump price of fuel from N897 per litre to N1, 030 in Abuja; from N855 to N998 in Lagos; N1, 070 in North-East; N1,025 in other South-West states; N1,045 in South-East and N1,075 in South-South.
This had triggered reactions among Nigerians who asked Tinubu to work towards reversing the increment.
Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had asked if increasing pump price is what the Tinubu administration lives for.
Weighing in on the conversation on Thursday, Atiku who was up against Tinubu in last year’s election, took to X.
“The haphazard and disingenuous approach of the current administration to fuel subsidy management has been the reason we are in this current economic crisis in the country. As things stand, there will be no let up in the escalating inflation rate, which is drowning the material well-being of Nigerians. It is even more worrying that T-pain is undisturbed by the hardship in the country.”
Although T-Pain is the stage name of an American artiste, social media critics have used it to describe Tinubu over the cost of living crisis.
Upon his return from an overseas trip last month, Tinubu had visited Maiduguri, Borno State capital, to condole with the people over devastating flood.
However, a social media user threw a jibe at the president.
Tweeting via @SadiqGSadiq, the social media user wrote, “T-Pain has landed in Maiduguri with his new 150bn jet to promise the flood victims bags of rice.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said it should not be held responsible for the latest hike in petrol price.
In a chat with Daily Trust, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the NNPCL hiked prices in response to prevailing circumstances in the energy industry.
Mohammed said the oil company did not act on any instruction from the federal government, as the government can no longer fix prices of petroleum products, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He said with the subsidy regime ending since May 2023, the NNPCL had only been paying differential to keep the price within the range it had been, but the company said it could no longer absorb the losses.
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