Opinion: Ifeanyi Ubah - A Study In Betrayal (Keep Your Fuel)

Following the 'Mr nice guy' statement by the CEO of Capital oil, Ifeanyi Ubah on Sunday, an upset Nigerian has told Mr Ubah to throw his fuel into the lagoon. Ifeanyi Ubah had declared on Sunday that he would release 13 million litres of fuel that would last Nigerians for 15 days. This seems like some good news, so you would wonder what triggered this angry Nigerian's harsh response. Continue reading to find out.

Look, me and some very reasonable people are not being carried away by this Andy UBA's hemlock. His decision to release 13 million liters of fuel is nothing but crass betrayal and a childish attempt at populism in the face of imminent disgrace by the incoming government.

We are tired of this kind of symbolism, this is what has put us in this place of global mockery and national helplessness. How many filling stations does Uba have, what is the national fuel usage, he releases 15 days worth of fuel to the Nation and after that what next, we are still faced with the same issues that led to the strike in the first place. 

Has he resolved his wahala with AMCON? Has he cleared himself of the fuel subsidy mess? Has he paid back Coscharis and other investors he has been owing. Abeg he is part of this problem and should go sit down with the union to engage government in a bid to finding lasting solution to the issue of subsidy and fuel supply in the country.  

What Uba is doing can lead to the inevitable destruction of the country. If unions decide to go on strike to bring to the fore the underlying and covered up issues of corruption, back handling, favoritism that has bedeviled not only the subsidy regiment but the whole gamut of the demystification of the petroleum industry and one person decides to break ranks and moves fuel, he should be arrested because he knows that by the time the country is on complete lockdown all the underground schemes would come up in the open.  

To me, Uba's move is aimed at scuttling the cleansing process this strike would have thrown up. He wants us to continue to be held to ransom by his ilk hence his decision to break rank so that the strike will collapse. This we must fight. We must reject his poisonous fuel. Let the strike continue. 

Let companies shut down, let there be no light, let there be no fuel, let schools, hospitals, radio stations all shut down. We are ready for the sacrifice, we will not die if the aim is to clean up the system and throw people like UBA who have held us in contempt by their nefarious activities in the downstream sector into the dustbin.  

The incoming Government should immediately engage the unions and assure them of their genuine desire to look critically into all the issues with a view to bringing lasting solutions to this matter. The outgoing Government have given themselves the last disgrace with this show of shame. They have prefabricated and run into their holes, we no longer are interested in them. Let the probes start, let Uba come out and tell us how he got his 13 million liters. 

We are tired. We are tired. I don't want his fuel. He should go and dump them in the Lagoon.

This article was written by Joseph Edgar, an investment banker who writes as a hobby about trending topics in Nigeria at Josephedgarng.blogspot.com.