By Dapo Akinrefon

THE Aareonakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, yesterday, lamented that the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, known as petrol, is biting very hard on Nigerians, noting that Nigeria can no longer bear the hardship that has put the entire nation on its knees.

Adams, in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, said the situation has added to the plights of ordinary Nigerians, saying such skyrocketing increase has never happened in Nigeria’s history.

The statement reads: “This situation is becoming very unbearable. There is no country in the world like Nigeria (a major producer of oil) where the citizens are groaning in pain over an insensitive increase in the prices of fuel.

“We know how much we buy fuel before now. Nigeria is yet to survive the subsidy removal that led to the sudden increase in the price of fuel from N187 to N500 per litre before it was jerked up now to N617 per litre within two months. It is painful. No sensitive government would be happy when the citizens are suffering.

“It is imperative for me to speak up, especially with what we experience now in the country. It is unfortunate, this is not what we expect from a president that is coming from the southwest region of the country.

“As a product of this democratic struggle; a political activist and the father of the nation, President Bola Tinubu must know that the citizens are his children. Therefore, a father must work on the best way to solve the problem of the children.

“With the present situation in the country, three state governors have declared a three-day work-free day for civil servants in their respective states.

“All over the world, many things have been subsidized in the interest of the mass of the people. Power, health, food and other necessities of life are being subsidized.

“Petrol, being the main commodity that moves the economy, now being sold for N617 per litre, is unbearable.”