An independent investigation showed that it was the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and some influential politicians who insisted that the subsidy must be removed fast.
The PDP leadership, led by its National Chairman, Kawu Baraje, was...
said to have mounted pressure on Jonathan to remove the subsidy on time before the opposition parties start their indirect/direct campaigns towards the next general elections to reduce its negative effect on the party's chances.
The party’s fear, according to sources within its hierarchy, was that if the subsidy was not removed on time, and with the expected protests that would follow it, it was capable of affecting the fortune of the party at the next general elections.
Nigerians were surprised to wake up on January 1 to the news that the Federal Government had removed the subsidy, which the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, had said a few days earlier that no date had been fixed for.
Maku had said after the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja on December 22, 2011, “No take-off date has been announced for subsidy removal.”
It was learnt that it was based on the assurances of the government that made the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Austin Oniwon, to announce that the take-off for the subsidy removal would be April 1, 2012.
However, the PDP bigwigs were said to have mounted pressure on Jonathan to start the implementation of the policy on time.
A member of the National Working Committee of the party said, “Do you want us to start the implementation when the election is coming? Yes, people would say that if we have just finished election, but it is better we do what we want to do now to enable us to settle down on time.
“There is no way such a policy would not have a ripple effect, and we expect opposition political parties to capitalise on it and make the policy a political tool.
“So, we asked the President to do what he wants to do now so that whatever the opposition political parties and the civil societies want to do could be done on time.
“We know that before we start talking about election now, Nigerians would have forgotten about the issue and we pray that the policy would turn out to be beneficial to the country.”
Another official of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak for the party, said the PDP was right to decide when to remove the subsidy.
He said since subsidy removal was part of the party’s manifesto, even though it was not used during the campaign, the party, in conjunction with the Presidency, was at liberty to implement it.
On his part, the Chairman of the Labour Party, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu, had this to say: “Our party finds it difficult to believe that the same President, who went round the country during presidential campaign, promising Nigerians better life ahead, is now busy imposing draconian economic policies, whose socio-economic consequences on the nation would be patently unbearable.
“Mr. President hardly needs any reminder that in the present circumstance of our beloved country, petroleum subsidy removal is a banana peel that his government should not make the mistake of stepping on."
