Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has stated that the protests triggered by the fuel subsidy removal during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2012 were primarily motivated by political interests.
Fayemi said this during a keynote address at a national dialogue held to commemorate the 60th birthday of Professor Udenta Udenta, the founding National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy and a Fellow at the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought.
The event, which took place in Abuja, was attended by notable figures, including former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Minister of Education Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, and former Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka.
GOOD EVENING NIGERIA recalls that on January 1, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan announced the removal of fuel subsidy, leading to an increase in the pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to N141.
READ ALSO: FG sets up 8-member committee to drive education roadmap
This decision ignited widespread protests known as ‘Occupy Nigeria’ in major cities across the nation. After more than a week of protests, the government adjusted the petrol price to N97 and later reduced it to N87 in 2015.
Jonathan faced criticism for the fuel price adjustment, particularly from leaders of opposition parties, including the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressive Change, All Nigeria Peoples Party, and All Progressives Grand Alliance, all of which now constitute All Progressives Congress (APC).
Fayemi criticized Nigeria’s “winners take all” style of democracy and argued that addressing the country’s current challenges required embracing proportional representation, where election outcomes are shared among contestants.
According to him, the last time Nigeria experienced economic development was during Jonathan’s administration
He said, “Today, I read former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview in The Cable saying our liberal democracy is not working and we need to revisit it, and I agree with him. We must move from the political alternatives. I think we are almost on a dead end of that.
“What we need is alternative politics and my own notion of alternative politics is that you can’t have 35 per cent of the vote and take 100 per cent. It won’t work! We must look at proportional representation so that the party that is said to have won 21 per cent of the votes will have 21 per cent of the government. Adversary politics bring division and enmity.
READ ALSO: Borno Govt raises concern over proliferation of lottery houses
“All political parties in the country agreed and they even put in their manifesto that subsidy must be removed. We all said subsidy must be removed. But we in ACN at the time, in 2012, we know the truth Sir, but it is all politics.
“That is why we must ensure that everybody is a crucial stakeholder by stopping all these. Let the manifesto of PDP, APC and Labour Party, be put on the table and select all those who will pilot the programme from all parties.”