Tinubu Would Have Lost If Buhari Removed Fuel Subsidy – Garba Shehu

President Bola Tinubu would have lost the 2023 presidential election if his predecessor had removed fuel subsidy, according to Garb Shehu, spokesman of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.

The incumbent president removed subsidy on his first day in office, an action that has fetched him commendations far and wide.

Addressing some Nigerians based in France during his recent trip to Paris for a summit, Tinubu had said lack of courage allowed the subsidy regime linger.

“I have achieved my aim. Making just a few smugglers rich. Some countries were bleeding us. Courage was missing. sometimes, I became an advocate of it. Remove this thing but God gave me the opportunity when I danced around, strategize with my team, we won the presidency.”

“I brought it. I won. We must achieve with it. We must change Nigeria with it. And then Wale Edun and co, we started debating, putting my speech together without the question on subsidy. I got to the podium, I was possessed with courage and I said subsidy is gone,” Tinubu had said.

But in a statement on Monday, Shehu defended Buhari’s action, saying he did not toe that path in order to avoid  the All Progressives Congress (APC) losing the February 25 election.

Shehu said there were multiple subsidies that the Buhari administration inherited in 2015, but they were gone before he handed over power.

“The Buhari administration in its last days could not have gone the whole way because the APC had an election to win. And that would have been the case with any political party that was seeking election for another term with a new principal at its head. Poll after polls showed that the party would have been thrown out of office if the decision as envisaged by the new Petroleum Industry Act was made.”

-Dailytrust