Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has said that some highly-placed individuals attempted to frustrate his administration’s move to take over the reconstruction of the Umuahia–Ikot Ekpene federal road. He, however, revealed that their plan failed, and Nigerians have been reacting.
Speaking during a media parley in Umuahia on Thursday night, Governor Otti expressed shock that people, including some from Abia State, tried to oppose a project meant to alleviate the suffering of road users.
According to him, he doesn’t understand how people can call themselves patriotic leaders while working against the reconstruction of the road that leads to their father’s house.
He stated that his government’s intervention was key to easing the hardship faced by commuters on the dilapidated federal highway.
“We will flag off the reconstruction of 25 kilometers of the road on Friday. We got approval from the Federal Ministry of Works to do the route for our people.
We know some people wanted to scuttle it. They didn’t want the approval to be given.
But thank God we were able to get it. Some of them are also from Abia.
And the question is: you don’t want the road that passes through your father’s house to be built? And you call yourself a patriotic leader?
Beyond those, we have also awarded another 9.3km road, as well as the 4.9km Ise Mba–Itungwa–Mgbedala Road in Isiala Ngwa South and another 3.7km road in Isiala Ngwa North,” he said.
Gov. Otti further noted that he plans to focus on Ubani Urban Market next, stressing that work should have begun already after a recent directive.
He concluded by saying that the market must be fixed to aid the decongestion of the Umuahia metropolitan area.
“I will find out why work hasn’t started there, because I already gave instructions.
We need to fix that market not just for traders but to decongest Umuahia metropolitan area,” he added.
