Former Rivers State Governor and African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to ₦600 per litre, saying he would withdraw from the ADC ticket and campaign for the President if the target is achieved.
Amaechi made the declaration during an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday while reacting to President Tinubu’s Independence Day address and his description of Nigeria as having entered an “age of prosperity.”
The former Minister of Transportation questioned whether the Federal Government’s economic reforms had translated into tangible relief for Nigerians, particularly in the areas of transportation and the prices of essential commodities.
Amaechi said Nigerians should judge the administration’s economic claims by what they experience daily rather than by official pronouncements.
“It is about believability; who do you believe? Go to the 2005 Presidential speech; it is the same: we have turned the page, and we are about to start enjoyment,” he said.
He asked whether the cost of transportation and other basic commodities had reduced since the implementation of the government’s economic reforms.
“Have you asked one of your staff who goes by transport, how much it costs from Yanya to Abuja? Has anything come down?
“Has any price come down, has anything changed?” Amaechi asked.
Using the price of petrol as what he described as a practical test of the government’s economic performance, Amaechi said he was prepared to personally visit a filling station to confirm whether petrol had dropped to ₦600 per litre.
“I will go tomorrow morning to the petrol station to buy fuel, I will go myself, if fuel has come down to 600, I will campaign for President Tinubu.
“If fuel comes down to 600 tomorrow, I will campaign for Tinubu,” he declared.
Amaechi went further, challenging Nigerians who doubted his pledge to accompany him with a camera to a filling station.
He said if petrol had fallen to the stated price, he would withdraw as the ADC vice-presidential candidate and support Tinubu’s 2027 presidential bid.
“If you doubt me, come with your camera to my house, and I will go to the filling station and buy fuel, and I, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi will withdraw as a vice presidential candidate of Atiku and campaign for President Tinubu, if it has come down,” he said.
The statement comes amid preparations by political parties and candidates for the 2027 presidential election, with the cost of living, fuel prices and the impact of economic reforms featuring prominently in political debates.
