The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been lashed over the deplorable condition of the Ekpoma-Benin highway in Edo State and told to apologise to the youths who were arrested while protesting.
Last week, Esan youths had staged a protest on the expressway. The protest led to long queues stretching from the Ujoelen area of the highway to Ambrose Alli University’s main gate and beyond, towards Benin. A similar situation was witnessed on the stretch towards Auchi where the queue extended beyond the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH).
The Esan Liberation Movement led by Prosper Iyere, organisers of the blockade, had vowed to occupy the road until the government responded to their demands to fix it.
The Coalition of Esan Youth Movements in a statement by Odion Ighodaro said the road was awarded in 2013 when a son of and Esanland and PDP chieftain, Mike Onolememen, was minister of works.
“We remember he promised Nigerians that the road will be completed within 30 months. He also added then that the federal government awarded the contract to three different companies so that work can be hasten on the road. The minister in his wisdom revoked one of the contractor’s move to start work from Ewu in Edo central up to Ehor junction, but approved the start of the work from Auchi on one section and Benin on another section.
“If our son, then minister of works had allowed the work to continue simultaneously at Ewu through Ekpoma because of the university and up to Ehor, the deplorable condition at Ekpoma would have been averted today. This same former minister of works who failed a simple test of management for selfish reasons is back again contesting for the senate under the same PDP.”
The group said though the former minister said he planned to continue the Ewu section of the work when he returned for the second time in 2015 as minister, “we are aware that he gambled it on the altar of politics because he wanted to be governor in 2016.”
The group added that another son of Esanland, Senator Clifford Ordia of the PDP have been senator and chairman of the Senate Committee for works for seven years now, “yet he could not influence the repairs of the road. This we believe calls for sober reflection on the caliber of politicians and those who want to lead us in Esanland and in Edo state.”
While lamenting the intolerable situation of the road, the Coalition added that several persons have been killed by kidnappers who take advantage of the bad condition of the expressway to inflict pains on motorists and residents alike.
The group called on the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, to extend his gesture to the people of Esanland by fixing the road in Ekpoma to make it motorable. “Our son was your predecessor but he failed us. If you come to our aid, you will be our son and we will celebrate you,” Ighodaro stated.