The Special Adviser to Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed the allegation that the president intends to relocate the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Abuja to Lagos.
Onanuga made this clarification on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday, following a rumour that circulated on social media that Tinubu had such a plan after some departments of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were moved to Lagos.
He said the rumour was a recycled lie that was first spread by Tinubu’s opponents during the 2023 general election campaign and was debunked then.
He said, “President Tinubu has no plan whatsoever to move the Federal Capital to Lagos. The rumour first surfaced during the campaign last year by opponents looking for all manners of weapons to stop him. We trashed it.
“Those peddling it anew are dishonest, ethnic and regional champions, trying to draw attention to themselves. Abuja has come to stay. It is backed by law.”
Onanuga explained that the movement of FAAN, a department of the Aviation Ministry, to Lagos was an administrative decision that should not be misconstrued as an attempt to move the FCT to Lagos.
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He said FAAN was originally based in Lagos, where it was closer to the hub of aviation business in Nigeria, before it was relocated to Abuja by the former minister Hadi Sirika during the last administration.
He added that FAAN would still have some presence in Abuja, as it was not a wholesale movement.
The information adviser also said that the movement of some departments of the CBN to Lagos was not a cause for alarm, as the departments were those dealing with commercial banks, which were all headquartered in Lagos. He said regulators ought to be close to the businesses they regulate.
He stated, “All those pushing this campaign of falsehood know they are playing politics, albeit a dangerous politics to pit the North against the South.
“There are many parastatals that are not based in Abuja depending on their mandate. NIMASA is in Lagos. So is NPA. National Inland Waterways Authority ( NIWA) is in Lokoja, not Abuja. Will the people opposing the movement of FAAN and some CBN departments want those agencies to be in Abuja, where there is no single port and no maritime activity?
“Administrative decisions should not be politicized. Let it not look like whenever we are temporarily not at the helm of affairs, we create all manners of dangerous rumours to distract from the bigger picture and emasculate an administration led by a Southerner. Let’s stop the dirty politics. We can’t be playing politics with everything.”
Onanuga urged the public to disregard the rumour and support the president’s efforts to deliver good governance to the nation.