The protest that followed the removal of fuel subsidies in 2012 during President Goodluck Jonathan’s government was mostly motivated by political concerns, according to former governor of Ekiti state Kayode Fayemi.
Fayemi made this statement while addressing at a national dialogue held in Abuja to commemorate the 60th birthday of Professor Udenta O. Udenta, who founded the Alliance for Democracy and served as its founding national secretary.
Jonathan, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, Chief Osita Chidoka, former minister of aviation, and others attended the session.
According to The Nigerian, on January 1, 2012, President Jonathan announced the termination of the fuel subsidy and increased the price of gasoline at the pump from N65 per litre to N141.
The ruling provoked widespread protests, known as “Occupy Nigeria” in the nation’s largest cities. After more than a week of demonstrations, the price was later changed to N97.
Jonathan received harsh criticism for the fuel price adjustment, particularly from APC leaders who were then in various opposition parties, such as the now-defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, Congress for Progressives Congress, All Nigeria Peoples Party, and APGA.
Fayemi criticized Nigeria’s democracy, calling it a “winners take all” system, and asserted that the country cannot overcome its current problems unless it adopts proportional representation, in which the winners and losers in elections divide the spoils equally.
He claimed that it had been during Jonathan’s leadership that Nigeria had last seen economic growth.
He said: “Today I read Olusegun Obasanjo’s interview in The Cable, and I agree with him that our liberal democracy has to be reviewed. We must abandon the political alternatives. I believe that’s where we’re heading soon.
“What we need is alternative politics, and by alternative politics, in my opinion, you can’t win with 35% of the vote and take 100%. No, it won’t work! In order for the party that supposedly received 21% of the vote to control 21% of the government, proportional representation must be considered. Political rivalry creates resentment and divisiveness.
“All of the political parties in the nation agreed, and they even said in their platform that subsidies must be eliminated. We all agreed that subsidies must be eliminated. The truth, Sir, is that it’s all politics, but we in ACN at the time, in 2012, knew it.
“So, by stopping all of these, we must make sure that everyone is an important stakeholder. Put the manifestos of the PDP, APC, and Labour Party on the table and choose the program’s pilots from all the parties, Fayemi said.
