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A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Enugu State, Adolphus Ude, has lambasted the Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Soludo, for hyping proposed road projects of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in South-East geo-political zone.
Ude who leads a frontline ADC support group, the ADC Like-Minds, challenged Governor Soludo to list the road projects done by Tinubu in the South-East, which would make history to be kind to him.
The ADC chieftain was reacting to a statement by Soludo yesterday, thanking the President for approving the design and procurement of two major South East roads.
The roads are the 108 kilometres Otuocha-Anam-Abaji (Kogi) Road and 150 kilometres Oba-Nnewi-Uga-Ihube (Okigwe Junction) Road, connecting Anambra and Imo states to the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road from Abia State.
The Anambra State Governor had, in his statement, titled, “History will be kind to you,’ thanked Tinubu over the South East road projects,” describing the approval of the design and procurement of the two roads as part of the President’s deliberate effort to rebuild the South East.
However, in a statement yesterday, Ude who is also the Secretary of Enugu ADC Caretaker Committee, condemned the sycophantic disposition of Governor Soludo and other South East governors to the President Tinubu, lamenting that their behaviour belittles Ndigbo before other Nigerians.
He took a swipe at Soludo in particular for lavishing praise on the President for a mere approval of the design and procurement of the two South East roads, not even the actual award of contracts for the roads.
Ude criticised Soludo for reducing the exalted position of Governor of Anambra State to the level of a presidential spokesman, who announces contracts and other approvals by his principal.
According to him, Soludo’s sycophantic behaviour and that of other South East governors, not only reduces their own self-worth, but also the worth of Ndigbo before other Nigerians.
He said: “It is embarrassing to see Soludo, in spite of his academic standing as a professor, join presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, in spreading the unfounded propaganda that no president has made deliberate effort to rebuild the South East more than President Tinubu. Beneath this excessive praise of the President always lies a fragile self-worth.
“Across Nigeria, Ndigbo are now regarded as bootlickers because of the tendency of South East governors to prioritise gaining favour, promotions or protection from the Federal Government, through insincere flattery and servile behaviour towards the President.
“Nobody is against Governor Soludo or his village party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) supporting President Tinubu. It is their choice to support whoever they wish. We are practising democracy in Nigeria. However, they should desist from dragging the entire South East along with them in their support for Tinubu.
“Tinubu has not done any new road project or significant reconstruction work on any existing highway in the South East to warrant anybody singing his praises the way Soludo and other South East governors are doing. No part of the South East was considered even as a bypass for Tinubu’s two legacy virgin road projects, namely, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, costing the Federal Government over N17 trillion ($13 billion) and N1.8 trillion Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway, which the Federal Government has secured $516.3 million syndicated loan, to help fund specific sections of the multi-state corridor.
“The media reported the other day that the Federal Government projects in Lagos State alone were worth over N3 trillion. Recently, Tinubu secured 746 million pounds ($1 billion) loan financing agreement from the UK for redeveloping and modernising the Apapa and Tin Can Port complexes in Lagos. Let Soludo and his fellow praise singers tell us how much the entire South East region received.”
According to Ude, Soludo should have listed the South East road projects done by Tinubu in his statement, but he did not mention even one, apart from thanking the President for approving the design and procurement of two road projects, not even the actual award of the contract.
Contrary to the assertion by Soludo that Tinubu continues to demonstrate a deliberate focus on the South-East region, the ADC chieftain maintained that the five states of the region were off the radar of the Tinubu administration.
He described Soludo’s claim of foundational infrastructural rebirth going on in the South-East under the Tinubu administration as a “manufactured consensus,” peddled around by the South-East Governors for their own personal aggrandisement.
He insisted that the exclusion of the South-East in infrastructure development in Nigeria has escalated under the Tinubu administration, citing as a typical example, the concession of the only international airport in the region, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu, to a private company.
Ude noted that while the Tinubu Government signed off the Enugu International Airport to a private company, the same government cancelled the concession bidding programme of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and opted to fund a N712 billion structural rebuild, through the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund.
He urged Soludo and other South-East governors to face their mandates of delivering democracy dividends to the people of the region, rather than engage in praise singing for the president, which makes a mockery of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
Finally, he assured Ndigbo that an ADC government in 2027 would ensure equity, fairness and justice to every part of the country in the allocation of federal projects and political appointments.
