By Sunday Attah
The psyche of Nigerians has once
again been needlessly assailed by the altercation between one of the leaders
of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the
Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu. The crux of the matter is
Kachikwu’s reported comments about the lingering fuel scarcity in the country,
to the effect that he was not a “magician” to bring the scarcity to a quick
end. He has since apologised.
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| *Bola Tinubu |
But, by Tinubu’s reckoning,
Kachikwu insulted Nigerians by purging himself of any official burden,
responsibility or sympathy over the persisting fuel scarcity. Tinubu was livid
with anger that Kachikwu basically abused the intrinsic values of the “progressive
agenda” of the incumbent government.
It all started from
a statement credited to Kachikwu. After a meeting with President Muhammadu
Buhari and the leadership of PENGASSAN and NUPENG, the two major labour unions
in the oil industry, Kachikwu’s riposte to reporters that Nigerians would still
experience two more months of fuel scarcity in spite of the nation’s functioning
refineries. This caused a stir, and was variously interpreted.
Kachikwu, who
doubles as the MD/CEO of NNPC, submitted that oil refined by Nigeria
Obviously, Tinubu perceived the statement to mean an indifference to the plight of Nigerians and a relapse to the PDP old ways of running the country. Tinubu was the first eminent Nigerian to react to these comments in a public statement he personally signed.
The spate of reactions to Tinubu’s outbursts on the matter is interesting. While some applaud Tinubu for the umbrage against Kachikwu, many see his comments as political.
