• Minister says Tinubu’s projects have transformed region;
• North-East presidential aide urges Atiku to quit race, claims six million votes unavailable to ADC
By | Goodluck E. Adubazi, Abuja
The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has challenged the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, to explain to the people of the South-East what he has done for the region before seeking their support for the presidency in 2027.
Umahi made the declaration in Abuja while addressing a gathering involving the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), civil society organisations and Senior Special Assistants to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on community engagement, during a presentation on ongoing Federal Government road projects across the country.
The minister argued that the South-East should assess political leaders based on their records and the tangible benefits they have delivered to the region.
He maintained that the infrastructure projects being undertaken by the Tinubu administration in the South-East represented a major intervention in the region and urged the people to openly acknowledge the projects.
Umahi said political leaders seeking the presidency should be prepared to present their records to the people.
“Let the people come and say, this is what we have done for the people of South-East. We want to be president; let us know what we have done for the people of South-East,” he said.
The minister also called on South-East leaders to be “bold and vocal” in explaining what he described as the benefits of the Tinubu administration to the region.
According to him, supporting President Tinubu should not be a matter for which individuals are insulted, arguing that Nigerians have the right to support any candidate of their choice.
He said: “It is the right of every Igbo man to support President Tinubu and his people. You should not insult him for such decisions.”
Umahi further declared that the South-East could not produce a president through its votes alone and urged the region to adopt what he described as a strategic approach ahead of the 2027 election.
He said the region should consider the infrastructure, political inclusion and other interventions of the Tinubu administration before making its electoral decision.
The minister has previously made similar appeals to the South-East, including a call for the region to support Tinubu in 2027 while citing Federal Government infrastructure projects.
Umahi also declared that, in his view, Obi would not win the 2027 presidential election, insisting that the former Anambra governor should present his record to the electorate.
He called for a debate on the achievements of political leaders, saying Nigerians should be able to place the records of those seeking political office side by side.
The minister said he was prepared to defend his own record and that of the Tinubu administration, particularly in relation to infrastructure.
“Ask me what I have done for the South-East; I will tell you what President Tinubu has done for the people of South-East,” Umahi said.
He cited projects including major roads, bridges and the rehabilitation and construction of strategic highways as evidence of the administration’s intervention in the region.
The minister said infrastructure remained central to economic development because roads enable the movement of people, agricultural produce and commercial goods.
He acknowledged that Nigerians had raised concerns about challenges associated with ongoing projects but said the Federal Government was responding to the issues progressively.
The Works Minister also questioned the recurring debate over savings from the removal of fuel subsidy, asking, rhetorically, “Which savings?”
Umahi said the administration inherited a large number of ongoing projects and had been working to address funding and completion challenges.
The Federal Ministry of Works has separately described Tinubu’s major legacy road projects as a network intended to connect Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and expand economic opportunities.
In a separate political intervention at the gathering, the Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Community Engagement in the North-East, Abdulhamid Yahaya, called on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the 2027 presidential contest.
The aide argued that the North-East would not make its votes available to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential campaign, claiming that more than six million votes from the region would instead be mobilised for President Tinubu.
The students and NANS representatives who participated in the road project tour also commended President Tinubu and Minister Umahi over the infrastructure projects they said they witnessed during their inspection.
One of the student representatives said the projects visited across different parts of the country had demonstrated what he described as visible government intervention in road infrastructure.
He said students constituted a significant voting population and declared support for Tinubu ahead of the 2027 election.
“We have seen the good work of President Tinubu. He has done well. We have seen your work. You have done well,” the student representative told Umahi.
Another representative from the North-West described the road projects visited by the students as evidence of ongoing Federal Government investment in transportation infrastructure.
He commended Umahi’s leadership at the Ministry of Works and urged the minister to sustain the pace of project execution.
Responding to the students’ presentation, Umahi commended them for visiting project sites and said the initiative demonstrated responsible civic engagement.
He said the ministry was willing to accommodate civil society groups and other stakeholders who wanted to inspect Federal Government projects.
According to him, the ministry had also hosted political and oversight groups that inspected projects, adding that engagements with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) were part of efforts to promote accountability. “We are accountable and it is very important,” Umahi said.
He added that Nigerians should be able to assess what the government was doing on the ground rather than relying solely on political arguments.
The Senior Special Assistants to the President on Community Engagement from the different geopolitical zones subsequently gave reports on ongoing Federal Government projects and their interactions with communities.
The reports covered the North-West, South-West, South-East, South-South, North-East and North-Central zones.
The aides highlighted the impact of road construction on transportation, agriculture, commerce and access to communities.
The North-West representative spoke about projects linking major cities and agricultural communities, including sections of highways and bypasses, while commending the installation of solar-powered streetlights on some road corridors.
The South-East representative praised the Tinubu administration for road and bridge projects across the region.
The representative cited the Second Niger Bridge and connecting roads, rehabilitation work on the First Niger Bridge, the Enugu-Port Harcourt corridor and other projects as examples of infrastructure interventions.
According to the representative, improved road connectivity had also affected property values and economic activity in some communities, with areas along major road corridors becoming more commercially attractive.
The representative said some communities that had previously been difficult to access were now benefiting from improved transportation links.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement, North-Central, Abiodun Essiet, also highlighted the wider social and economic impact of the administration’s infrastructure projects.
Essiet, whose official portfolio is community engagement in the North-Central, has previously represented the Presidency in grassroots engagements and community consultations across the zone.
She said improved roads were changing the economic fortunes of communities by opening up access to markets and reducing transportation difficulties.
Essiet also pointed to the effect of major road projects on property values, noting that landlords in some areas had increased rents along major road corridors because of improved accessibility and the development associated with Federal Government projects.
She said the projects were creating new opportunities for communities, particularly farmers who depended on efficient roads to move agricultural produce to markets.
Umahi, in his closing remarks, described infrastructure as essential to economic growth and social development.
He said the Federal Government would continue to address project funding and construction challenges while urging Nigerians to monitor projects and hold government accountable.
The minister also urged political leaders to engage directly with their communities and explain the benefits of government programmes.
He said Nigerians should be able to examine competing political records and make their decisions based on the information available to them.
The event ended with renewed calls for greater public scrutiny of Federal Government projects and continued engagement between ministries, students, civil society organisations and communities.
