On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, a Twitter user with the handle @OgbeniDipo tweeted that all the leading presidential candidates promised to remove fuel subsidies.
Dr. Dipo Awojide popularly known as Ogbeni Dipo made the statement when reacting to a tweet that was tweeted by a sociopolitical activist Deji Adeyanju that the opposition at the 2023 presidential election would have removed subsidies without first fixing the refineries.
Adeyaju tweeted that: “Are you ready to buy fuel for N750 per liter? When I told the opposition to unite to stop APC, they didn’t understand but everyone will soon know how far. They kept saying they will reach each other a lesson at the polls. The opposition would never have removed subsidy without first fixing the refineries.”
Adeyanju’s tweet has been seen over 83, 000 times on the social media platform and generated 145 comments, 82 retweets, and 215 likes as of the time of filing this report. While Awojide’s reply has been viewed over 82,000 times with 30 comments, 142 retweets and 412 likes as of the time of writing this report.
VERIFICATION
N-VA extracted the claim, “All the Leading Candidates in the Just Concluded Presidential Election in Nigeria Promised to Remove Fuel Subsidy.” The researcher went on to fact-check and verify the authenticity of these claims.
According to a report published by PUNCH, Channels, Nairametrics, Business Post, and Premium Times, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi who is one of the leading presidential candidates promised to remove fuel subsidy in an Interview with Arise TV.
Obi said the money spent on fuel subsidy would be channeled to other sectors of the economy.
According to the news report published by The Cable, Business Day, This Day, and Punch, the presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar promised to remove the fuel subsidy.
On Tuesday, November 15, 2022, while speaking on a range of economic issues in Nigeria, as well as his recovery plan for the country if elected president at the Lagos Business School 2022 alumni day, Abubakar described the controversial petrol subsidy as a “fraud” and pledged to scrap it.
“I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed phase 1 and phase 2 of the fuel subsidy. I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud,” he said.
Also, it was discovered in a news published by Reuters, This Day, and The Cable that the President-Elect in the just concluded 2023 general election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) vowed to remove fuel subsidy.
Tinubu promised to remove fuel subsidy if elected as the president of Nigeria, adding that his government would ramp up oil production and deregulate midstream gas prices within six months.
Moreover, the presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, also promised to stop persistent fuel subsidy, if elected the next president of Nigeria in a news story published by The Guardian.
CONCLUSION
The claim that all the leading presidential candidates in the just concluded election promised to remove fuel subsidy is TRUE.
