Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, on Friday stated Nigerians did not protest when the present administration increased the pump price of petrol to N145 per litre because of the trust they had in President Muhammadu Buhari.
Adesina stated this via his Twitter handle, @femadesina, in an apparent response to a statement credited to former President Goodluck Jonathan that those who criticised him for leaving the pump price of fuel at N87 were not speaking out now that his successor had jerked up the price to N143.
The presidential spokesman stated the difference between the two scenarios painted by the former President was trust.
“When petrol went to N145 under PMB, Nigerians held their peace, unlike when they shut the country in 2012. The difference is trust. Simple,” Adesina posted on twitter.
Jonathan’s administration had in 2012 increased fuel price from N67 to N97 per litre but reduced it to N87 in January 2015.
Speaking on Thursday when a chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tunde Adeniran, visited him, the former President had expressed surprise that those who criticised his moves on fuel price had remained silent under Buhari.
“My government was severely criticised for increasing the pump price of petroleum from N67 to N97 at a time that global crude price was going for over $100.
“The pump price was later reduced to N87 when the price of crude oil dropped and they attacked us that it was supposed to be lower.
“Those who criticised my administration are not talking again now that the global crude oil price is about $53 per barrel and the pump price of petrol is N143,” Ikechukwu Eze, Jonathan’s spokesman, had quoted him as saying in a statement.