Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said if elected, he would not relocate the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) to Lagos.
This comes on the heels of speculation from various quarters that the former Lagos State governor would return the FCT to Lagos.
Director, Media & Publicity APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga in a statement on Tuesday alleged that the People’s Democratic Party was behind what he dismissed as falsehood, aimed at discrediting Tinubu in the Northern part of the country.
“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.
“This misinformation campaign, according to field reports, is being given some traction by some elders on the payroll of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
“We are shocked that some people could contrive such an 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.”
He further alleged that “the same purveyors of falsehood have also been distorting the commercialization of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company(NNPC) Limited by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari.”
Onanuga noted that the present administration has not privatized NNPCL and the Tinubu Presidency would not sell the assets of the nation’s oil giant.
“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.
“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.”