A civil rights group, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) has described the lingering fuel crisis in the country as a threat national security.

In a statement it released Thursday entitled “Letting Fuel Crisis Persist Is Grossly Insensitive And Dangerous,” HURIWA noted that “the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources makes it pathetic, insensitive and dangerous that he has permitted the unwarranted mass hysteria, pains and suffering of Nigerians struggling to buy premium motor spirit to linger for over two weeks.”

“It is even the more, a threat to national security that President Buhari did not implement result-oriented panacea to the fuel crisis before he jetted off to foreign jurisdiction on medical tourism for God-knows for-how-long he intends to stay away,” the statement added.

The statement endorsed by the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Publicity Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, posited that President Buhari has taken the patience of millions of Nigerians for granted by allowing wicked and lawless major petroleum dealers to sabotage the citizens by persistently hoarding petroleum products and openly selling only to thugs and street urchins at night who then return to the streets of Abuja and other flash points to sell the same petrol at over N500 per litre to desperate motorists and small scale businesses who are at the verge of losing their business due to the unrelenting scarcity of the product.

HURIWA lamented that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) did not follow through with its promises to check and stop the disturbing petrol scarcity and has now been overwhelmed by the antics of shylock major fuel distributors.

“we had consistently endorsed the decision of the management of the NNPC to expose the companies responsible for importing toxic fuel into Nigeria and we also applauded the NNPC for promising to end the scarcity and indeed for two days, the scarcity seemed to be ending.

“But the mafia who do not want Nigerians to seamlessly buy petrol for their domestic and commercial uses, have since overwhelmed the NNPC and right now for over a week, the scarcity of petroleum has become unbearable.

“It would seem that President Buhari has taken the patience of the people for granted by travelling without officially handing over to his Vice in line with constitutional requirement so the Vice President, working as Acting President, can implement far reaching measures to stop the widening spectre of man-made fuel scarcity all around Nigeria,” the group said.

HURIWA has also warned that since the suffering masses were getting closer to the limits of their endurance, fuel scarcity may precipitate street protests and riots which may be justifiable under these circumstances.

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