• I’ll reveal my presidential candidate in January – Gov. Wike
• Collect their money and vote for me – Peter Obi tells supporters ahead of 2023 elections
• Fares soar as petrol sells at N270 per litre
• We don’t want poverty, vote APC out – Gov Okowa to Deltans
• Senate fails to pass 2023 budget, cites errors, late submission

Across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, these are the five top Nigerian news stories you shouldn’t miss:

I’ll reveal my presidential candidate in January – Gov. Wike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has stated that he will announce his top choice for president in January 2023.

This was said by Wike on Thursday during the Rumukurishi flyover’s commissioning ceremony in Port Harcourt.

The governor added that he would run a nationwide campaign for his chosen candidate in Nigeria.

He said, “From January next year, I’ll campaign to my people who they’ll vote for.

“So, all of you who’ve been in suspense, who’ve been saying all kinds of things, abusing me, wait. January is here.”

He added, “I’ll move from state to state [for campaigns], and why they should vote for the person, nothing will happen.”

Recall that during the PDP presidential primary in May, in which Wike finished second, it was reported that the governor had been at odds with Atiku Abubakar, the party’s front-runner, over the chairmanship of Iyorchia Ayu.

Collect their money and vote for me – Peter Obi tells supporters ahead of 2023 elections

Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s nominee for president, has urged his supporters to accept the money offered by rival political parties while continuing to support him.

At the Labour Party’s presidential rally on Thursday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the candidate for the party made the announcement.

Obi claims that although the money is Nigerian property, people in power “stole” it.

He said, “Let me tell you, that money they are giving you is your money, collect it, eat it and vote for me.

“The money that I will give to you is that you will be employed, you will have healthcare, you will get education, I will make society work and you will become rich. I want to build a society where everybody is secure where a child of nobody will be able to become president of this country.”

Obi also stated his desire to unite Nigeria and transition it from a consumer society to a producer one.

He promised to resurrect Nigeria in the same way that he had “revived dead enterprises” in the past and encouraged Nigerians to hold him accountable.

Fares soar as petrol sells at N270 per litre

In the Anambra state capital of Awka, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as gasoline, is currently selling for between N260 and N270 per litre.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who kept an eye on the fuel supply and price situation on Thursday, reported that transportation costs have increased significantly as a result of the surge.

The NNPC mega and minor retail outlets in Awka were closed to patrons because they had no inventory, whilst only private marketers’ outlets were open and had a short line of vehicles waiting to purchase gasoline.

The town’s drivers voiced worry that the cost of gas had risen further and no one had stepped in to help them.

They charged that because it was getting close to Christmas and New Year’s, the marketers were arbitrarily raising prices.

According to NAN, intracity shuttle fares have soared by 100%, with carriers now charging N200 for trips that only cost N100 before.

Mrs. Jane Oranu, a government employee who works in Awka but lives in Onitsha, claimed that a one-way fare that used to cost N300 now costs between N750 and N800.

Oranu claimed that the cost of living had become more difficult as a result of the increase in transportation costs.

She urged the Federal Government to take action in the petrol price dispute and protect the general public from intolerable suffering.

In response, Mr. Chinedu Anyaso, Chairman of the Enugu Depot Community of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), attributed the price hike to the increased cost of obtaining goods.

Anyaso, who is in charge of the states of Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu, claimed that marketers are now purchasing PMS for more than N240, with loading costs of N3 and transportation costs of N15 per litre to their outlets.

“It is not our problem, the price we are selling is reflective of the ex-depot price which is N240, we pay N3 as loading cost and transport to our outlets with N15 that makes landing cost to be between N258 and N260.

“You can see that alternative to what is going on now is to be out of business but we have to remain in business to service our people, especially during this Christmas period.

“It is even affecting our businesses because our sales have dropped by about 50 per cent because customers are not buying, so we are calling on the federal government to supply products massively and directly to marketers and not through these private depot owners,” he said.

Anyaso pleaded with the people to recognize the efforts being made by marketers in the Southeast to increase access to fuel, but she said that they have no control over pricing.

We don’t want poverty, vote APC out – Gov Okowa to Deltans

Ifeanyi Okowa, the governor of Delta State and vice presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has urged the residents of the state’s Warri South Local Government Area to vote out the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government.

At a PDP rally held at the stadium in Warri township, Governor Okowa gave a speech.

He pointed out that the APC had accused his administration of spending state funds on appointments, but he responded by saying that the reason he appointed so many people was to feed Nigerians.

APC brought famine to Nigeria, said Governor Okowa, who insisted it was time for the administration to resign.

According to Governor Okowa, “We don’t want poverty to continue. 8 months ago, students were at home. Not going to school because they couldn’t pay. In Delta, people were going to school. We were able to pay salaries. We don’t want that party that’s spoiling things for us. Vote them out.”

Governor Okowa also said there’s no hope for the Labour Party, “it is only in PDP you can find a road. Let’s vote for PDP.”

He expressed confidence that the PDP would easily win the upcoming elections in Delta State.

However, Governor Okowa pleaded with the residents of Warri to launch a “door-to-door campaign” and cast their votes en masse for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, and other PDP candidates in the upcoming election in order to rescue the nation from the dungeon that the APC government, in his opinion, has thrown it into.

Senate fails to pass 2023 budget, cites errors, late submission

The Senate dashed the expectations of those, who expected it to pass the 2023 Appropriations Bill into law, yesterday.

The Senate failed to pass the 2023 Appropriations bill as earlier scheduled, blaming the Executive Arm of government for not only submitting the budget proposal very late but presenting a bill filled with errors.

There were strong indications that the 2023 Budget was not going to be passed by the senators when the budget report was not listed on the Order Paper for yesterday’s legislative activities.

Prior to the disclosure by the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, the Senators had gone for an Executive Session shortly after the plenary resumed for the day and the closed session lasted for 15 minutes.

President Muhammadu Buhari submitted the 2023 budget proposals of N20.51 trillion to the National Assembly at a joint sitting on October 7, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Senate will defer its traditional Christmas holiday to enable the lawmakers to attend to what was described as President Buhari’s error-full budget proposals for 2023.

The Senate was expected to proceed on Christmas and New Year holidays following the passage but the decision to push forward the passage of the budget proposals has changed the plans.

Speaking after the closed-door session, Lawan said the 2023 Appropriations Bill cannot be passed as scheduled against the backdrop that the Appropriations Committee could not complete work on the budget report.

Lawan blamed the executive arm of government for submitting the budget proposal very late and with errors, disclosing that the process of cleaning the errors contained in the Appropriations bill was concluded, yesterday, adding that the two chambers have to harmonize the copy to be able to present the report for passage by both chambers on December 28, 2022.

Lawan disclosed that the Senate and the House of Representatives were collaborating with the executive to clean up the errors in the budget ahead of its passage on Wednesday.

Lawan also assured that the implementation of the proposed budget will still commence on January 1, 2023.