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Yuletide: Reduce Petrol Price to N300 Per Litre, Bode George Urges Tinubu
A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre, noting that it would enable Nigerians to celebrate the festive season.
He also said the party will overcome its current challenges before the 2027 elections, noting that the ambition of an individual should not be higher than the party’s interest.
Speaking on the need for a reduction in petrol price at a press conference in Lagos, the PDP leader said the reduction should commence immediately.
George said: “What am I suggesting is that by the 15th or the middle of this month, President Tinubu, if he really believes that these Nigerians voted him into power, it is time to give back to them.
“There are two months in any calendar year that are very important months. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist, or a traditionalist, it is common and it is all over the world. The months of December and January are the most important months.
“From the middle of December, at least to the end of January, the cost of petrol should be reduced to N300 per litre. The government can absorb the losses.
“With this, you will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes. Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact this period of the year.
“It is a challenge and he can do it. If Madam First Lady could donate N1 billion to a university, she could also donate into the coffers to bear this cost. What’s wrong? So that everybody will be able to sleep well with N300 per litre across the board.
“So by the end of January, in the meantime, the prayers, the happiness, the impact of that will drive people up. And the Almighty God will answer our prayers. We need this in this December and January to put a smile on the faces of people.
“Who is the Minister of Petroleum? So he has a singular effort and if he really looks at these cuts in fuel price across all political parties, all human beings, all Nigerians, he will see the joy in them because the cost of items will crash.”
He said there is no organization anywhere in the world that is not riddled with crisis.
He said this at an interactive session in Lagos.
“I call our party (PDP) the Iroko because the party didn’t emerge from anywhere. It is entrenched in our constitution. Section 7 (3c), of the PDP constitution states that there will be and there must be and there shall be zoning and rotation of party positions and elective offices.
“Everything that had been in the South must go to the North. Everything that is in the North must come to the South. So that was what drove some of us because this is justice, equity, and fairness.
“That’s what made some of us say, I will join politics. We were the first to be elected in 1999. The first were appointed the managers.
“They handed over to us these procedures and these doctrines, so suddenly human manipulation came because someone wants to be president.
“So your ambition is now higher than the corporate ambition of everybody. Who the hell are you? And because it’s been going from generation to generation, I’m happy I’m still alive. We can talk about it.
“What they handed over to us, we are telling them, this is what they handed over that made the party to be stable. We will tell ourselves some serious old truths. We messed up ourselves with the manipulation. It started with Ayu,” the party chieftain added.
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
