Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has expressed confidence that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will secure an overwhelming majority of votes in the Southeast during the 2027 elections, citing the administration’s extensive road construction projects in the region.
Speaking during the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Stakeholder meeting on Sunday, Umahi highlighted key road projects, including the Port Harcourt to Enugu expressway, which is divided into four sections. He noted that CGC Nigeria Limited is currently working on the 63km Lokpanta to Enugu boundary stretch, which is expected to be completed and commissioned by April.
“In the southeast, we have the port Harcourt to Enugu, we have 4 sections here. From Lokpanta in Enugu to Enugu boundary, we have CGC working and it is 63km. by the end of April, they would have completed that section, ready for the president to commission.”
Additionally, the minister pointed to the construction of two fair bridges and a flyover at Obinago, Enugu State, designed to ease traffic congestion caused by the presence of a major fuel depot in the area. The flyover, he assured, would also be ready for commissioning by April.
While defending the government’s commitment to infrastructure in the Southeast, Umahi dismissed allegations that a stop-work order on the Enugu to Onitsha expressway was an attempt to sabotage the president’s chances in the region. He clarified that the 107km dual-carriage project, funded through MTN’s tax credit scheme, had initially faced cost variations and delays but is now being prioritised for completion by the end of the year.
He dismissed the criticisms that the government was neglecting the region, arguing that the scale of development justifies his claim that the Southeast will overwhelmingly support Tinubu in 2027.
“The president is going to have 99% of the vote in the southeast because he has been very nice to the people of the southeast.
“Now I am reading in social media and I promise any contractor organization that tackles me by getting the public to de-market us, we will wash our dirty linen in public. So, I saw when people sent me texts saying oh you are sabotaging the election of president Tinubu in the southeast by placing a stop-work order on Enugu to Onitsha. When I saw it, I said to the person, it is a shame to you.
“This is a project by MTN on tax credit, 107km by 2. we inherited it and the cost of 202bn and all that was being achieved till date is 38bn with about 14bn variation on price.
“We are holding a meeting with MTN by Monday to commit to finishing this project by the end of the year because every month you exceed, the government is paying more. So, when people start giving counsel without knowledge, I say shame unto them. We have no reason to stop the work, but we have every reason to do the right thing and it is not peculiar to that job. That is what we are doing in all the projects.”
Other ongoing projects in the region include the Enugu to Abakaliki highway and the Afikpo-Abia-Okigwe road, which Umahi described as part of President Tinubu’s legacy initiatives.
