2027: South East must vote for Tinubu –Umahi

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has declared that the people of South East must vote for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

Umahi said the zone must know that South East votes alone can’t produce the president of the country if they vote for Nigeria Democratic Congress’ (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and that they shouldn’t waste their votes.

Umahi said the region needs to appreciate the President through their votes for the massive infrastructures in the area under his administration.

The minister stated this at the weekend in Okigwe, Imo State, during inspection of the 65-kilometre Afikpo-Uturu-Okigwe road project, being executed under the Federal Government’s tax-credit scheme with Dangote Industries Limited as sponsor, and Hi-Tech construction as contractor.

He urged the people of South East to be strategic and support President Tinubu’s re-election.

“We need to stand up for the President, we need to stand up for this champion, we need to stand up for this man that says Nigeria belongs to all of us, that the South East is part of Nigeria. And so, we will commit to appreciating him, to showing gratitude, to coming out of sentiments. Then, I can assure you that more will happen in 20231.

“The South East must vote for President Bola Tinubu in 2027. The South East must know that our vote alone cannot make our brother, His Excellency Peter Obi, to be president. No, we have to be strategic. And for those that misunderstand us, His Excellency, Peter Obi, is my friend and my colleague. We have been governors. He might be a senior one but governor is governor, and we also contested presidential intention together. He didn’t get it, I didn’t get it.

“I am happy for the President I serve now that got it. And, automatically, because of what he is doing all over the country, I continue to say to the people of the South East, I am on the ballot. I am on the ballot because the ballot is about democracy, the ballot is about what you bring for your people, and I have a bragging right to the glory of God that we have not been left behind.

“And so, I don’t insult my brother. But, I boldly say do not vote for His Excellency Peter Obi, vote for President Bola Tinubu. Is there any crime in that? This is very important. And so, those who are very aggressive, those who insult me because they have different opinions are not democrats, and they are not wise. And that is not how the South East is going to become president. They are not going to become president of the South East or president of Nigeria.

“You have to accommodate divergent views, you have to accommodate the feelings of others. And you can’t say who I am in the development of the South East because you can put the credentials of everybody side by side.

“God has privileged me through President Bola Tinubu to be an irreducible decimal in the affairs of the South East. I can boldly put my hands on my chest and say, yes, I stood for my people, I stood for the entire country. And so, you cannot discount me, you cannot say that what I am saying doesn’t make sense. If the projects that the President is using me to do make sense, then there is sense in these things that I’m telling our people”.

Umah said the 60-metre-high mountain on the Afikpo/Uturu/Okigwe Expressway historically constituted a major safety challenge for road users and was responsible for several fatal accidents along the corridor, stressing that the Tinubu administration is determined to eliminate the obstacle and deliver a safer and more efficient highway.

“This mountain, by the command of President Bola Tinubu, must collapse for the people of the South East,” Umahi said.

He described the mountain section as one of the most technically demanding portions of the project, noting that its successful removal would represent a major infrastructure breakthrough and contribute significantly to reducing loss of lives on the route.

“This place is very challenging. We have a mountain that is over 60 metres high. If God helps us in the administration of President Bola Tinubu to achieve this, this will be a major saving of lives for the people of the South East. This place has consumed many lives,” he said.

Umahi said work on the 65-kilometre road had recorded substantial progress with more than 20 kilometres already completed, while commending the contractor for the quality of construction.

He, particularly, praised the concrete pavement being deployed, describing it as superior to what was obtainable on some other major Federal Government highway projects. The minister maintained that the administration’s intervention in the Southeast should be assessed from the standpoint of tangible infrastructure delivery and economic impact, rather than political sentiments.

Earlier, the Project Controller, Engr. Maxwell Oko, said the Highway F112 project comprised 9.9 kilometres of dual carriageway and 55.55 kilometres of single carriageway. Oko explained that the road was being delivered under the tax-credit arrangement, with Dangote Industries Limited as the sponsoring company and Hi-Tech Construction as the executing contractor.

He said  the highway constitutes a major arterial route linking communities and adjoining federal highways across Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo states, with significant implications for trade, transportation, and regional integration.

Also speaking, the Managing Director, Hi-Tech Construction, Christopher Aucamp, said the contractor had commenced preparatory operations at the mountainous section in readiness for intensive excavation and earthworks.

“This is the mountain we’ve been talking about. This is the mountain where we have to do the realisation of the nine kilometres. As you can see, we are busy with progress on it,” Aucamp said.

He disclosed that three excavators would be deployed to accelerate the excavation and reshaping of the difficult terrain.

“We bring three excavators down so we can start demolishing the mountain and start filling the full areas to straighten the road out a little bit,” he added.

Aucamp further disclosed that the contractor was constructing a second bypass to facilitate safer movement for students and other road users while construction activities continued around the mountain section.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, Southeast, Barr. Chioma Nweze, commended the Federal Government for prioritising strategic road infrastructure in the region.

Nweze said the Afikpo-Uturu-Okigwe highway would strengthen connectivity, open up communities and markets, and stimulate commercial activities across the affected states. She identified the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, Enugu-Abakaliki, Abakaliki Trans-Sahara, and Onitsha-Owerri roads, among other major Federal Government projects ongoing in the Southeast.

She said the projects underscored the Tinubu administration’s commitment to closing critical infrastructure gaps and integrating the Southeast more firmly into the national economic development framework.

The Afikpo-Uturu-Okigwe highway is expected to provide a strategic transport link between Ebonyi, Abia, and Imo states, improve access to markets and institutions, and facilitate movement along adjoining interstate highways when completed.