The Civil Society Coalition for Positive Change and Stand Up for Nigeria, SUN, have issued a 72 hours ultimatum to the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources who doubles as the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Ibe Kachikwu to resign from office in view of the prolonged fuel scarcity which it said has brought severe hardship on Nigerians.
Noting that the Minister has failed to justify his appointment, the groups stated that his inability to restore normalcy with regard to the biting fuel crisis in the country shows his incompetence to manage the situation.
National President of the Civil Society Coalition, Comrade Venatius Torkuma and Executive Director of the SUN, Labake Boboye, in a joint statement issued and made available to journalists on Sunday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fire Kachikwu should he refuse to resign.
It would be recalled that the boss of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, had reacted to public criticism of his handling of the fuel scarcity by reportedly stating that Nigerians should count themselves fortunate that the NNPC under his stewardship has been able to bring in the amount of fuel it is currently distributing. . But the groups described the statement as reckless and insulting to Nigerians who voted for the current
administration, stressing that the statement by the Minister of State that he was not trained as a magician was an admittance of his incompetence.
They threatened to take to the street on Wednesday in “a mother of all protest” in Abuja to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari and members of the international community in an event the minister refused to resign.
The statement reads, “Nigerians fought hard to vote in this government of change. But to hear the minister say the kind of things he said is not only insulting to Nigerians but showed his gross incompetence. Nigerians will not tolerate such recklessness. In case the minister needs a reminder, the era of incompetence is long gone with the previous administration.
“Since he has admitted that he cannot restore normalcy to the current fuel crisis, he should immediately resign his position. Indeed, Kachikwu was not coerced to take this job. He accepted the job and its responsibilities knowingly. He also must remember that he does not own NNPC. This also is not a private company that owes nothing to the public except the duty of fair dealing. He is a public servant. The seat he sits upon is owned by Nigerians not by him.”
The coalition maintained that the fuel shortage is severely biting the average person and to hear the
minister make such statement puts the Buhari administration in bad light.
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