The South-South Youths Initiative has demanded the immediate sack of Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), over the recent hike in fuel prices nationwide.
Speaking on behalf of the group, its national president, Imeabe Saviour, blamed the petroleum sector problem on the NNPCL’s leadership.
In a statement issued on Saturday and made available to journalists in Abuja, Saviour alleged that Kyari has failed to play an advisory role to the President Bola Tinubu-led federal government.
“Kyari has failed to make justice to his first role of advising the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the right policies to implement and at the right time to do so,” Saviour said.
“We are calling on Kyari to resign his position immediately for failing to offer good advice to Mr President. It is because of his actions and inactions that the entire country is in this present hardship.
“In sane climes, when a public office holder fails to carry out his functions effectively, and the result of such action leads to some negative impact on the people, they willingly resign their position as a mark of showing remorse.
“We want Kyari to show this remorse that he has caused millions of Nigerians untold hardship. His resignation is important to Nigerians.
“We also want him to apologise to Nigerians for his failure to know what his functions are in the office he currently occupies, which includes providing advisory roles to the president,” he added.
Saviour called on President Tinubu to fire Kyari should he refuse to heed the group’s call within seven days.
He vowed that group members would shut down the NNPCL offices in South-South states if Kyari remained in office in the next seven days.
“However, if the president fails to sack him after he refuses to resign within seven days, we will have no option but to shut down the offices of NNPCL in the States of South-South.
“This is not a threat; it is a promise we, the youths of this nation, will implement for the sake of the suffering masses,” Saviour added.
