From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha

Human Rights and Pro-democracy groups, Campaign for Democracy (CD)and Human Rights, Liberty Access, and Peace Defenders’ Foundation (HURIDE), have urged president Bola Tinubu to channel the recovered subsidy fund to repair our refineries rather than sharing it to states.

The groups said the so-called palliative was meant to settle the Governors since Tinubu had allegedly settled other political judicial elite in the National Assembly and National Judicial Council ( NJC) by allocating huge amounts of money as palliative to them.

The leader of the CD in South East and HURIDE, Dede Uzor in a statement said the money was another deceit by President Tinubu administration to play a fast one on Nigerians and smokescreen.

Uzor lamented how the same Government which withdrew the announcement of payment N8,000 palliative earlier earmarked for poor Nigerians due to negative reactions from Nigerians and Nigeria Labour Congress, would turn around to give State Governor N2b each as palliative to cushion the effect of removal of subside in fuel.

The groups queried how State Governors who could not share their citizens COVID-19 palliatives which came in the form of food items but allowed them to rot away until the youths broke into several stores where they were housed across the country to loot them, will equitably share N2b to their respective citizens.

“Why not channel such amount of money to repair the refineries, so that we can stop the importation of fuel?

“Our fuel situation is an emergency that needs an instant solution.

“It was very shameful for the past administration of Muhammadu Buhari which was also ran by All Progressive Congress (APC) to commission a private refinery without striving to complete the publicly owned refineries. Government seems not to be sincere” he said.

“What is the direction of our economic policy including our foreign policy? How can you be subjecting Nigerians to untold hardships because there are no resources, yet you want to go to war in the Niger Republic?

“Tinubu should stop deceiving Nigerians. He should be sincere and exhibit political will in addressing our socio-economic and political problems”.

“We urge Tinubu to go back to the archives and get the documents the former President, Goodluck Jonathan, used to midwife his palliatives, which Tinubu led his APC members to truncate and use to implement his palliatives as that document seemed to have come from a more clear-headed team” groups stated.

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