Tinubu opens up on plans to relocate FCT to Lagos, sell NNPC

Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has thumbed down rumours that he plans to relocate the nation’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT from Abuja to Lagos.

The APC candidate accused the opposition of launching a multi-pronged desperate campaign of falsehoods against him.

Tinubu, in a statement on Tuesday by the Director, Media and Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council PCC, Mr Bayo Onanuga added that unlike the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar, he (Tinubu) does not intend to sell the Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC Limited to his friends.

According to him, the latest insidious campaign in some parts of the country against him is the handiwork of the PDP and Labour Party.

“After exhausting their arsenal of calumnies and character assassination against Tinubu, the opposition PDP and their surrogate Labour Party have begun a multi-pronged desperate campaign of falsehoods.

“In one of the falsehoods being circulated, especially in the North West of the country, Tinubu is said to harbour plans to relocate the Federal Capital from Abuja to Lagos on succeeding President Muhammad Buhari from 29th May, 2023”, he stated.

According to him, the misinformation campaign, according to field reports, is being given some traction by some elders on the payroll of the PDP.

“We are shocked that some people could contrive such egregious lie, all in the name of politics, with the intention to confuse our burgeoning support base in that part of the country.

“Let us say with emphasis, that Asiwaju does not contemplate any such plan and will not do anything that is so ultra-unconstitutional.

“The same purveyors of falsehood have also been distorting the commercialization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The truth is that President Buhari has not privatised NNPC as planned by the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. Buhari has instead made it a commercial entity, owned by all the tiers of government, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act”, he stated.

Tinubu noted that in due course, the company will be in a position to declare and share dividends to all its owners, the way Aramco of Saudi Arabia and Petrobas of Brazil do.

“As the destined successor of President Buhari, Asiwaju Tinubu will continue the policy of the Buhari administration. Unlike Atiku, Tinubu has no plan to sell NNPC to his friends or cronies”, he added.