As more groups express their reaction to the situation in the country, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) today lamented the failure of the government of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan to understand the seriousness of what it is confronted by.
“It has failed to understand that all Governments be they dictatorial or otherwise enjoy power because the people allow it to remain in power,” the NBA said in a statement by its President, Mr. Joseph B. Daudu, noting that no government can outlast the will of the people.
The Muslim Congress (TMC), in a statement signed by Luqman AbdurRaheem, urged President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to listen to the voice of wisdom and rescind the punitive elimination of the subsidy on petroleum products unconditionally in the interest of the populace.
That position of the TMC is shared by the Conference of National Political Parties (CNPP) which also today called on Mr. Jonathan “to muster all sense of humility, listen to voice of reason and honour the demand” of Nigerians and reverse his subsidy removal decision.
The CNPP, rising from an extensive meeting on the State of the Nation on Wednesday night, resolved to support the mass action declared by the Labour Movement in Nigeria following their ultimatum to Mr. Jonathan to reverse the petrol price to N65, on or before 8 January 2012.
The NBA said it supported all the actions contained in the 4 January 2010 communiqué of the Labour Movement, and that all members of the NBA will participate in the nationwide strike commencing on the 9th of January 2012.
In the its strongly-worded statement, the NBA said: “It is clear that Nigerians do not and will not tolerate subsidy removal under the terms and conditions set out or laid down by Government. Any removal of subsidy based on the importation of petroleum products is unacceptable to Nigerians. Government must create the infrastructure for the refining 100% of petroleum products in Nigeria and by Nigerians. It had been done in the past, it was sabotaged, and it can and will be done again.”
TMC, aligning itself with well-meaning Nigerians, advocacy groups, labour unions and civil societies to condemn “the wicked, sudden, deceptive and heartless removal of the fuel subsidy,” described the new policy as a diabolical agenda orchestrated by the ruling elites in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deregulate the downstream oil sector for their self-fish ends.
It pointed out that the fuel subsidy removal conflicts with, and has rubbished the objectives of all the ongoing developmental programmes of the Nigerian government especially the Millennium Development Goal which seeks to reduce the number of people living in poverty by 2015; the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President; the poverty-reduction thrust of Vision 20: 2020 and worsened the Human Development Index In Nigeria.
From Sahara Reporters New York
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