•Insists South-east loyal to Tinubu, not ex-Anambra governor
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Minister of Works, Mr. David Umahi, has again taken a swipe at the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, accusing him of seeking the presidency at all costs and failing to be forthright on critical issues affecting the South-east region.
Umahi, according to a statement issued in Abuja by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze, made the remarks at the weekend during the inspection of Section 2 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Superhighway in Epe, Lagos State.
The minister was said to be reacting to alleged reports circulating on social media that Obi had promised to halt President Bola Tinubu’s legacy infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, if elected president.
“He simply wants to become president by all means, and that is not good for our people. Let us know the truth. Deceit will not help us,” the minister said.
It is unclear if Obi made the latest social media comments attributed to him by Umahi.
But on May 1, 2024, the former Anambra State governor argued on his X handle that, rather than building new super-highways, Tinubu’s administration should have fixed the countless existing federal roads across the country that have largely deteriorated.
“This is a moment when a committed government cannot embark on non-essential projects. Existing highways urgently need maintenance, and insecurity makes travel unsafe. We cannot afford another expensive abandoned project. Nigeria’s urgent development needs are more real and essential. We do not need landscape decoration escapades,” Obi had argued.
But describing the reported position of Obi as disappointing, Umahi said he hoped Obi never made such a statement.
The minister maintained that Nigerians would reject any attempt to discontinue projects designed to transform the country’s economy.
“This project that someone is said to have promised to stop, and I hope he never said so, is highly innovative. I only saw it on social media. I have challenged the Obidient (Obidient) movement to compare President Bola Tinubu’s record as governor of Lagos State with that of Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State. Let us see the master plans each of them created. Let us see the projects that lived beyond their tenure.
“Today, we are standing on the coastal highway, which shows the vision of President Bola Tinubu beyond his time as governor. We recently adopted President Tinubu in Ebonyi State. I will not stop speaking. I will not stop defending Nigerians and our people.
“I want everybody to know that Ebonyi is not for the Obedient Movement. Our loyalty is to President Bola Tinubu, and so is that of the entire South-east. People will see it. Mark my words. I am also a prophet and a priest. Mark my words, and it will come to pass by the power of God,” he maintained.
The former Ebonyi State governor argued that Obi had not been truthful about his positions on issues surrounding the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, insisting that leaders should take responsibility for their past actions and statements.
He faulted Obi for what he described as his silence during periods of insecurity and for enforcing the Monday sit-at-home order in the South-east, arguing that thousands of lives and livelihoods had been affected.
“I know his position on IPOB. I know about the disagreement between him and Nnamdi Kanu. I know his feelings and the actions he took, which he was entitled to take. But he should be man enough to own those actions and not come before Nigerians and say, ‘Oh, this man did not say anything. He was just talking, as though it was harmless,” Umahi added.
“Nobody should joke with the thousands of South-east people who were killed in the process. He has not been honest with our people. People sit at home every Monday, and he has not spoken against it,” he alleged.
