Don’t Politicise Fuel Subsidy Removal, Sanwo-Olu Tells NLC

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to shelve its planned strike in protest against the fuel subsidy removal, saying the issue should not be made political.

Governor Sanwo-Olu spoke yesterday after a post-inauguration thanksgiving service held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina to end activities onhis second term inauguration.

He saidthe strike  scheduled to commence nationwide on Wednesday would neither address nor resolve the issue.

The governor said, “This is not the time to go on strike. Recall that all the presidential candidates said the first thing they will do is remove the fuel subsidy. So what has changed? What has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said or done that is different from what others would have done? The president has not even spent one week in office. We need to be very patient and reason together. Let us not make the issue about politics, but let’s support this man. We should allow him to go and reflect.”

The governor was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the deputy governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and his wife Oluremi.

Sanwo-Olu said, “Strike will not resolve anything; it won’t address the issue. The point should be how to ensure a sustained turn around in our economy.

“So I plead with the NLC to not turn the subsidy issue into a political one. The leadership should know they are leading people and so there is a need to restrain themselves. Let us be patient and work with the president. NNPC has said it has more than enough fuel to go round, so there is no need to heat up the polity. We should not get political because it is governance, and the people must see purposeful governance.”

Harping on the thanksgiving service,  Sanwo-Olu noted that it was important to acknowledge God’s help to individuals, state and the country as a whole, and commit the second term into God’s hand.

He said, “It is important to thank God Almighty and to acknowledge his help to all of us, as individuals, as a state, as a nation, and to also commit our second tenure to him, to ask him for direction and to place everything in his front.’’

Earlier, the provost of the Cathedral, Rev. Adebola Ojofeitimi, in his sermon tagged, “Unity: Catalyst for Godly Possibilities”, urged the people to remain united so that things can work effectively.