Igbo social-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has accused Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari of reserving the Second Niger Bridge for campaign ahead of the 2019 election.
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Uche Achi-Okpaga, while speaking with Punch, said the Federal Government should have included the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge in the budget, if it was serious about executing the two projects.
The Igbo social-cultural group alleged that Buhari intended to use the promise to execute the two projects as a bait for votes from the Southwest and Southeast ahead of the coming presidential election.
He said, “The necessity of attending to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge did not spring up overnight.
“For quite a long time now, stakeholders have been calling for the attention of the Federal Government on these projects.
“The media have been awash with headlines that called the Federal Government’s attention to these projects, all to no avail in spite of the strategic position and importance of the Niger Bridge as the link between the Southeast and the rest of the country.
“The ploy, perhaps, is to shift and heap the blame on the National Assembly, a complete political choreography.
“I am neither surprised nor perturbed. This same government outlined a ‘national’ railway project and wittingly sidetracked the entire Southeast.
“The second Niger bridge, Lagos-Ibadan expressway and other projects that are in the pipeline are deliberately being mentioned for the 2019 campaign and I want to be controverted .”
That is smart politics and one should advise the President to halt action on these projects till the 2019 campaign.
In politics, all is fair game to win votes. Mr President should adopt the approach suggested by the Ohanaeze chieftai, in case he has not thought of it. Let him govern the country the way they we want it, not the way he thinks it should be, particularly that some sections of the country are yearning for the return of corruption.