The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called on Nigerians to organise mass protests against what it views as the Federal Government’s plan to further hike the pump price of petroleum products, describing the plot as punitive and oppressive economic policy.

HURIWA also, carpeted the Federal Government for deliberately lying that it was not paying subsidy to petroleum products marketers like the previous administration when it was indeed, doing so through the NNPC as confirmed by Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo.

The group said: “Nigerians must in their millions protest this evil policy of government to impose the harshest fuel price in the history of Nigeria. The citizens must exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to civil protest by making their voices to be heard loud and clear and to stop the current government from proceeding with this demonic review of petrol price. Chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees to Nigerians to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly/Protests.”

It also explained that the emerging narratives from the investigative sittings of the Senate on the 2017 Christmas season’s deliberate hoarding of fuel products by marketers, shows that the hardships faced by millions of Nigerians last December was a deliberate ploy and indeed a well choreographed gambit by the Federal Government headed by President Buhari and executed by the shylock fuel dealers just to blackmail the populace to accept the planned hike in the pump prices of petrol to a prohibitive figure of N175 per litre.

The NGO also accused President Muhammadu Buhari, the defacto Petroleum Minister of insincerity and insensitivity towards the sufferings that his administration has imposed on Nigerians through artificial boarding of petroleum products in order to smuggle through the back door a new all time high petrol price of N175 as recently announced by the Minister of State for petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu.

HURIWA also wants the government to combat “deep seated corruption within NNPC including the numerous cases of breaches of procurement law in the awards of contracts to ghost companies amounting to well over $25 billion, which was even revealed by an insider in the person of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu.”

It expressed the view that ending the vicious circle of corruption in NNPC is much more urgent than the ongoing manipulations by government to arbitrarily hike the pump prices of petroleum products in a nation whereby ballooning poverty has kept over 100 million as being absolutely impoverished and unable to find standard three square meals per day.

“We have always suspected that this government was economical with the truth when all the key officials feigned ignorance of the circumstances that instigated the widespread scarcity of petroleum products during the festive season. The confirmation of our fears by way of disclosure of a plot to hike the petrol price to N175 which emanated from the mouth of Ibe Kachikwu shows that President Buhari took Nigerians for fools when he made a threat in his January 1st 2018 national broadcast to deal with fuel marketers who hoarded petroleum products towards last Christmas season leading to excruciating pains and hardships across the land.

“We find it ridiculous that barely 48 hours after President Buhari pretentiously apologised to Nigerians for the unprecedented and horrendous existential pains caused by the artificial fuel scarcity nation-wide and also accused marketers of hoarding fuel and threatened fire and brimstone, this same government was hand-in-gloves with these so-called shylock fuel marketers in telling Nigerians that fuel can no longer sell at N145 but now at the most satanic hiked price of N175. This is the height of dishonesty, callous insensitive and malicious falsehood.

“Nigerians should by now be reasonably conscientised following the collective punishment inflicted on all of us by both the Buhari government and the fuel marketers throughout the festive period to massively reject the blackmail by this government and to outrightly reject any plot to increase the costs of fuel. How come, it is now that Nigeria makes more money from the exports of our abundant crude oil resources following a tremendous rise in the international asking price per barrel of crude oil that the long suffering masses are being taxed in the most suffocating fashion the highest pump prices of petroleum products? What is the offence of the masses for voting this government in 2015 that the President has continued to unleash a regime of punitive economic policies that have deprived millions of Nigerians of their livelihoods and now this same government seeks to impose the most extreme buying price of Premium Motor Spirit which will inevitably have ripple effects on the general costs of living for millions of Nigerians?

“This government has for three years failed to stop the importation of petrol by also refusing to fix the existing refineries in Nigeria but has continued to bring in substantially poisonous fuel products that pollute the environment, endanger the health of citizens and threatens the roadworthiness of the cars plying our roads. Most Nigerians are now facing health challenges of respiratory diseases being spread by the massive amounts of toxic petrol being imported by the NNPC and sold at cut throats’ price to unfortunate Nigerians.

HURIWA recalled that Kachikwu had said that the perennial petrol scarcity and price instability would only stop when the Federal Government removes the disparity between pump price and landing cost of the product.

HURIWA further quoted the Minister as saying during a presentation at a public hearing on the fuel crisis jointly organised by the Senate and House of Representatives that it is shameful that government has failed to get the oil sector business right just as he noted that the NNPC became the sole importer of petrol because of difficulties faced by oil marketing companies, a situation that greatly affected product supply.

HURIWA, however, believes that the Federal Government under President Buhari has told consistent lies to Nigerians to try to confuse the gullible citizens that certain marketers were hoarding the fuel just as the rights group said the recent presentation on possible hike of petrol price has expose the government as being the official agents that ordered the systematic hoarding of fuel so as to create a general atmosphere of scarcity that could compel gullible Nigerians to accept just any hike.