Founder of Dr. Nicholas Foundation, Dr. Felix Nicholas, has dismissed insinuations that he distributed free fuel to motorists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, to woo voters for President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Nicholas said his free fuel distribution was to serve as palliative to cushion effect of high cost of fuel.
The former All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant distributed the free fuel at the Shafa Petrol station.
Nicholas said he ensured the beneficiaries were dispatch rider, commercial drivers and tricycle riders because those represented the poor masses.
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Nicholas, however, explained that his gesture was not to woo voters for the 2027 general election but giving back to the society.
According to him: “We have been doing this for the past two years. We are here to give out free fuel. This started in 2014, even in the United States. We decided to bring it here. And what a better time to bring the renewed hope to the people, to let them know that there is hope.
“I know fuel is one thing that everybody talks about since the removal of the fuel subsidy. So we just decided to come and put a smile in the face of the people. You can see the bike men, the bus driver, they are so excited, and that’s what this is all about.”
“This has nothing to do with campaign. When it’s time to campaign, we’ll rule out what Mr. President has done. There’s no campaign here. We are not campaigning. We did it in Ibadan 2018. We did it in Benin here in 2019. We did it last year in Benin. We did it in Etsako. We did it in Auchi. We did it in Niger State. We did it in Abuja in July. So we are doing it as much as possible. We’re taking it around.”