Umahi challenges Obi for debate on “offensive road” picture

Minister of Works David Umahi has challenged former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi to a debate on road infrastructure, saying that taking a picture of a bad portion of a road for campaign purposes is in bad taste.

Umahi threw the challenge during the commissioning of the Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Borno superhighway on Wednesday in Nasarawa State, noting that Obi, as a former governor, should understand the realities of governance.

“I feel so sad when my brother, the former governor of Anambra State, who should know what governance is, makes some remarks. I saw on social media where he got to a point where the road is bad and took a picture. This is bad for his dignity and personality.

“And I’m always ready for a debate. I’m always ready to disaggregate the cost, the unique cost of concrete, and to debate with him. And so, I feel so sad because governance is the responsibility of everybody,” he said.

Furthermore, he noted that the federal government would incorporate Yobe and, from Yobe, Gombe to Maiduguri, whose entire stretch is 700 kilometres.

“Don’t forget that the first legacy project of Mr President is 750, cutting through Lagos to Ondo to Edo to Delta to Bayelsa to Rivers to Akwa Ibom and Cross River. And the third legacy project is taking off from Cross River where the first legacy project stopped. And that is going from Cross River to my state, Ebonyi, where the first section is ongoing. The second section has just been approved, and it is ongoing, and it is going from Ebonyi down to Benue, down to the Benue boundary between Benue and Ebonyi. That’s another 168 kilometres that has been awarded,” he stated.

In his remarks, President Bola Tinubu noted that the road is a legacy project approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and constructed in sections.

“In Section 1, Phase 1 of the Akwanga–Maiduguri Superhighway, it is a 125-kilometre stretch spanning Akwanga–Kaduna–Jos, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Plateau States as part of the larger 700-kilometre Akwanga–Maiduguri Superhighway, cutting across five states in the North-East as follows:

“Akwanga–Kaduna–Jos, 125 kilometres; Jos–Bauchi, 135 kilometres; Bauchi–Gombe, 162 kilometres; Gombe–Biu, 125 kilometres; Biu to Maiduguri, 188 kilometres — spanning 700 kilometres in all. They are distances connecting communities and cities along one of the most important inland passages in the country,” he said.