Garba Shehu, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, has reacted to the increase in petrol price, saying the product sold at a higher rate when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power.
Writing via his Twitter handle on Tuesday, the presidential spokesman said petrol sold for as much as N600 per litre under PDP.
The federal government through the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) recently increased the ex-depot price of petrol from N138.62 to N151.56 per litre.
Following the increment, petrol marketers raised the price of the product from N148 to between N158 and N162 per litre.
This happened days after electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in the country began the implementation of the new cost-reflective electricity tariff.
The hike was condemned by many Nigerians and groups. The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) had said the government did nothing to help citizens cope with the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.
The PDP, on its part, described the increment as “callous, cruel and punishing“, and demanded that it should be reversed to avert “a national crisis.”
But Shehu accused the main opposition party of deceit.“Don’t allow the PDP to deceive you. Amidst acute shortages, they sold petrol at N600 per litre on Easter Sunday in 2013 (See Punch published on that day),” he tweeted alongside a newspaper publication.
The presidential aide, however, came under attack over the comment, with many accusing him of unjustly justifying the petrol price hike.
