Elder statesman and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Chief Bisi Akande has accused former President Muhammadu Buhari of causing the misery that Nigerians are now going through as a result of the gasoline subsidy reduction.
Former Osun State governor Akande insisted that by now Nigerians would have surmounted the difficulties connected with the elimination of gasoline subsidies, stating that Buhari ought to have done so when he was first elected president in 2015.
The former APC interim national chairman said that he had not aligned himself with the Buhari administration’s economic policy from the start.
“And I kept saying it but as part of the administration, I couldn’t go to the press to say it. It would have been senseless because Buhari never closed the door of his house to me. I can meet and talk to him whenever I want,” he said on Channels TV.
“And I was saying that I wasn’t comfortable with economic management. Let’s use, for example, the removal of fuel subsidy, between the time Buhari was elected as President and the time he was inaugurated, we had several sessions of discussion to see if the subsidy should be removed and he was convinced.
“And I thought that as soon as he got to power he would removed the subsidy but I didn’t know what happened. And after his inauguration he started being careful, slowing down until the first four years.
“So, at the beginning of the term, he came out, he wanted to remove the subsidy and the country reacted and he had to back out. So from the beginning I wasn’t comfortable. Subsidy ought to have been removed at that time and by now Nigerians should have been used to it.”
