PDP Responsible For Fuel Scarcity, Says Oshiomhole

The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, has blamed the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.

The Deputy Director General of the Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council made this known during an appearance on Channels Television on Wednesday.

Oshiomhole said the opposition party should be blamed for the endless fuel scarcity experienced all over the country over its inability to fix the refineries during its 16 years in power.

The former governor of Edo State added that the PDP wasted a lot of funds on maintaining the moribund refineries during its tenure in power.

Oshiomhole said former President Olusegun Obasanjo decided to privatise the refineries, but another PDP president came and revised the privatisation.

He said: “We must ask the question: who destroyed the refineries? What was the condition of the refineries by 1999? From 1999 to 2015, PDP was in power for 16 years. During these 16 years, if they bring out the figure of what they claimed to have spent maintaining these refineries, you will faint.

“And a PDP president decided to privatise the refineries, that was (Olusegun) Obasanjo, towards the tail end of his tenure, another PDP president came and revised the privatisation, promised six months that fuel will be available.

“So, if you have to talk about the maintenance of the refineries, you will have to trace it to the 16 years of the PDP, they couldn’t fix it.”

Naija News reports that for the past three weeks, fuel scarcity has surfaced in Lagos and Abuja as vehicle owners have had a tough time getting petrol from filling stations.

Whilst many outlets are closed, the few ones that are open sell the indispensable commodity for as high as N250 per litre from the uniform price of N169/litre.

The shortage of supply has led to long, grueling snake-like queues at the few open filling stations as motorists and business owners jostle to buy fuel while others resort to black market.

The situation has also worsened traffic on major roads as vehicle owners block at least one lane to join queues to filling stations.