Yesterday’s evening, Garba Shehu, spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari, while attempting to justify the recent increase of petrol pump price nationwide, said the product sold for N600 in 2013.

Mr Shehu while making the claim on Twitter, shared a screenshot of a national daily with the lead story captioned “Petrol now sells for N600.” He told Nigerians not to be deceived by the now opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which held sway at the time of the cost.

“Don’t allow the PDP to deceive you. Amidst acute shortages, they sold petrol at N600 per litre on Easter Sunday in 2013 (See Punch published on that day),” he tweeted attaching the screenshot.

Checks by TODAY POLITICS showed the claim is inaccurate, did not occur on the said date and was not the official pump price of the product at the time.

A glance at the screenshot showed the publication was made on May 25, 2015.


The screenshot by Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, claiming petrol was sold for N600 in 2013.

A visit to the online version of the newspaper in a bid to verify the story was unsuccessful as it was not found on the platform which has existed for more than 17 years now and created on Friday, April 11, 2003.

Further search on the internet threw up a blog, Pan African News, which copied the said content from Punch online version and attributed credit to the national daily. The content published on May 25, 2015 showed the N600 price of petrol at the time was its cost at black market due to scarcity of the product and not the official pump price.

“Our correspondents reported on Sunday that petrol had dried up in almost all the filling stations nationwide, while black marketers capitalised on the prevailing scarcity by selling the product in jerry cans for between N200 and N600 per litre in places like Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Kaduna and Oyo states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory,” part of the story read.

Two other stories, titled: “Family Barred Us From Chukwumerije’s Burial – Abia Govt” and “Rivers Cps, Military Commanders Reporting To Patience Jonathan – Amaechi,” found on the said publication, investigation also showed, was published on May 25, 2015, two days to the hand over of the then outgoing administration.

The two stories when checked on Punch Newspapers website by TODAY POLITICS, did not show up apparently due to reconstruction of the site. This reporter further checked the internet and traced the stories to Nairaland, one of the online forums in the country, with links on it credited to the national daily.

The stories, first and second were republished by members of the online community with Punch online platform credited as the source.

VERDICT: The claim of the presidential spokesman that the product was in 2013 sold for N600 is inaccurate. That was the price at the black market on May 25, 2015 after his principal defeated then incumbent president who handed over power two days after.

"The greatest enemy of the truth is very often not the lie(deliberate, contrived and dishonest),but the myth(persistent, persuasive and unrealistic" ). -John F. Kennedy

VERDICT: The claim of the presidential spokesman that the product was in 2013 sold for N600 is inaccurate. That was the price at the black market on May 25, 2025 after his principal defeated then incumbent president who handed over power two days after.

Okoroawusa:
To the Igbos n PDP apologists above,

Garba Shehu might have mistaken the exact date but you can't take away the fact that he didn't lie. Fuel scarcities were so frequent that we took it as a way of life. Every motorist had a jerry can in by their cars n buses because you are not sure when the next scarcity will occur n you go queuing n sleeping at filling stations.

Anything that will make my children experience PDP years....Holy Ghost! Fire!!!

Nbotee:
Who doesn't know d bastards in power concoct lies weneva it pleases dem... I have been driving for over 10yrs and I have never bought fuel for 300 in d black market even during those heavy scarcity.. One thing dis bastards do not know is dat power is transient. D monies dey have been stealing wont last forever

Racoon:

Lies is the hallmark of every appointee of this government They nauseatingly live, eat, breath and shit lies.

sharpden:


Source: https://todaypoliticsng.com/fact-check-garba-shehus-claim-of-petrol-sold-for-n600-in-2013-inaccurate/

sharpden:


Source: https://todaypoliticsng.com/fact-check-garba-shehus-claim-of-petrol-sold-for-n600-in-2013-inaccurate/

Maxymilliano:



Garba Sheu just shot himself in the foot and unknowingly exposed the folly of this devilish government.

Bastards!

obailala:
This thread is actually exposing the folly of some people. Even imbeciles know the N600 was referring to black market price and it wasnt specific to any particular date; it's just what happened whenever there was acute shortage. But I can see how certain people are rejoicing over a meaningless fact check.

Don’t allow the PDP to deceive you. Amidst acute shortages, they sold petrol at N600 per litre on Easter Sunday in 2013 (See Punch published on that day),” he tweeted attaching the screenshot.

sharpden:


“

So you didn't see where he said people should not be deceived by the PDP which, according to him, sold petrol at N600?

muykem:
This is unnecessary because we know his point. He is simply referring to black market price since fuel is not available at government official price then.

idiot:
Very stupid fact check. Every brainless lizard is aware of the Black market scenario which hunted the country through out the 16 years of PDP misrule.
In those days, people queue for 2-3 days some times the whole week just to buy fuel that will be used up in 5 hours journey. Insane waste of man time and resources was the order of the day.
Well they either forgets so soon due to their fish brains or we are dealing with babies that got mature overnight to talk on scarcity they never experienced in their whole life.

Fishbrains:
but you are the idiot here