Fuel Subsidy Removal: I Feel Your Pains, Tinubu Tells Nigerians

Posted by Rotimi Fadeyi Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Monday, June 12th, 2023

— Eulogises Abiola Over June 12

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – President Bola Tinubu on Monday said that he could feel the pains Nigerians are going through with the removal of fuel subsidy.

Tinubu, in a nationwide broadcast to commemorate the June 12 Democracy Day, admitted that the decision to remove fuel subsidy would impose extra burden on the masses.

He, however, stressed that it was a decision taken to save the country from going under

According to him the fuel subsidy removal was meant to take the nation’s resources away from the stranglehold of a few unpatriotic elements.

Tinubu said, “I admit that the decision will impose an extra burden on the masses of our people. I feel your pain. This is one decision we must bear to save our country from going under and take our resources away from the stranglehold of a few unpatriotic elements”

“Painfully, I have asked you, my compatriots, to sacrifice a little more for the survival of our country. For your trust and belief in us, I assure you that your sacrifice shall not be in vain. The government I lead will repay you through massive investment in transportation infrastructure, education, regular power supply, healthcare and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives”, he said.

While speaking on the essence of the Democracy Day, Tinubu noted the sacrifice made by the winner of the June 12, 1993 election in the country, late Chief Moshood Abiola, who died in the struggle to reclaim his mandate which was annulled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida.

Tinubu said, “we can easily recall the sacrifice and martyrdom of Chief MKO Abiola, the custodian of the sacred mandate that was so cruelly annulled. He sacrificed his life in unyielding, patriotic defense of the ideals of democracy as symbolized in his choice, by his fellow countrymen and women, as their duly-elected President”

“There was an easier choice for him. It was to forgo the justice of his cause and opt for the path of ease and capitulation in the face of the tyranny of power. To his eternal credit and immortal glory, Abiola said no. He demonstrated the time-tested eternal truth that there are certain ideals and principles that are far more valuable than life itself”

“Everyday, on this day, down the ages we will recall the several other heroes of democracy such as Kudirat Abiola, wife of Chief Abiola, who was brutally murdered while in the trenches fighting on the side of the people. We remember Pa Alfred Rewane, one of the heroes of our independence struggle and Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua (rtd) who were silenced by the military junta while in pursuit of democracy. They gave their yesterday for the liberty that is ours today”

“The point is that we must never take this democracy for granted. We must forever jealously guard and protect it like a precious jewel. For, a people can never truly appreciate the freedoms and rights democracy guarantees them until they lose it”

“We have traversed the dark, thorny path of dictatorship before and those who experienced it can readily testify to the unbridgeable gap between the dignity of freedom and the humiliation and degradation of tyranny. True, rancorous debates, interminable wrangling, ceaseless quarrels, bitter electoral contestations may be perceived by some as unattractive features of democracy. But they also testify to its merit and value”

“This year, we held the seventh in the cycle of elections that have become sacred rituals of our democratic practice in this dispensation since 1999”

“That the polls were intensely contested is in itself positive evidence that democracy is well and alive in our land. It is only natural that even as those who won and experienced victory in the various elections are elated and fulfilled, those who lost are disenchanted and disappointed. But the beauty of democracy is that those who win today can lose tomorrow and those who lose today will have an opportunity to compete and win in the next round of elections”

“Those who cannot endure and accept the pain of defeat in elections do not deserve the joy of victory when it is their turn to triumph. Above all, those who disagree with the outcome of the elections are taking full advantage of the constitutional provisions to seek redress in court and that is one of the reasons why democracy is still the best form of government invented by man”, he added.