The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has alleged that the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, was inciting the people of the South East (Igbo) against the Federal Government on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.
Umahi said this while speaking at the event organised to compensate the affected owners of demolished structures to create a pathway for the project in Lagos on Wednesday.
He maintained that Obi had been a critic since President Bola Tinubu’s administration embarked on the project, describing it as a “job-losing one and misplaced priority.”
Recall that Obi tweeted on his handle that Tinubu is creating more unemployment and destroying investments that paid taxes, as the Landmark Beach Resort, worth $200 million, was adversely affected.
The former Anambra governor lamented that thousands of jobs are about to be lost, with over 100,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector facing imminent extinction, along with 80 small businesses and their 4,000 mostly youth employees.
However, the former Umahi countered Obi, saying that he had done a similar thing when he was governor of the state and did not compensate the affected individuals.
He noted that Obi was only inciting some unsuspecting residents of the South-East against Tinubu’s government, cautioning him to desist from such.
The former Ebonyi governor said, “It brings to some of the comments made by my brother, his Excellency Mr Peter Obi; I am not supposed to comment about it because some people have already done the work.
“And I know what Arise Television brought courtesy of Channels Television; they were bringing similar scenarios when His Excellency Peter Obi was the governor. He made a statement saying, ‘Any infrastructure that stands in the way of the road must go. And there would be no compensation paid.’ That’s what he said.
“But look at me, by the human face of the Renewed Hope agenda administration, we are even paying for people who are illegally staying on the coastal line and don’t have valid infrastructure and valid documents. That is mercy, that’s mercy… You know, some people darken counsel without knowledge. You know there’s the devil in the details.
“When you condemn people, you bring judgment upon yourself. And that is what he (Obi) has done. And I think he’s inciting some of the people in the southeast who are not well informed. He is inciting them. And gets them into trouble. And he doesn’t go to fight for them. Wisdom is a defence. And I want our people to have wisdom because I am involved.
“There’s is no inhumanity meted to Landmark, that matters should be buried because I was there. And so we fought everything possible. Some people even donated property to save his two big infrastructures. That’s appreciation. But some people have taken sides along with him to play politics,” he added.
Earlier, Maryanne, the wife of the presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party in the 2019 general elections, Kingsley Moghalu, had advised investors to shelve investing in Lagos State, adding that doing that would be at their own peril.
She had since faced backlashes from raging Nigerians, including former presidential aide Reno Omokri, who consider the message spiteful and bigotry.
By Adekunle Sulaimon
