Senator David Umahi, the Minister of Works, has firmly stated that no form of distraction will prevent him from fulfilling his obligations to God, President Bola Tinubu, and the citizens of Nigeria. The Minister made this assertion on Saturday during an inspection of the ongoing work on the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway, located at the border of Enugu and Anambra states.
Umahi was addressing recent claims made against him by an individual alleging that he owed a debt. He noted that the matter is currently under judicial review and challenged those making the allegations to be prepared to substantiate their claims in court.
"If you’re paid to insult me in social media, it won’t shut my mouth. I’m not at all distracted. Everyone that knows me knows that I’m David and not afraid of anything," Umahi declared. He further elaborated, "Some people have asked me… ‘okay let’s settle,’ what are we settling? You don’t play something on nothing. If you want to woo me you have to do that properly. This is a very handsome man, with a very good brain. You don’t go by the side looking for me."
He reiterated his stance on the legal proceedings: "Meanwhile, the matter is in court, whether you insult or praise me, I don’t want to know. All I know, if you allege, you must prove it in court."
"We’re not distracted from our work. We know we’re engaged in a series of wars because contracts are no longer business as usual. We’re not unaware of that. So, wherever the fight is coming from, we’re ready. But we won’t bend the standard. We’ll fulfil the callings of God almighty, the people and Mr President," he added.
Expressing his satisfaction with the contractors' progress on the road project, Umahi urged them to accelerate their efforts to meet the established deadline.
"I’m very impressed with the work so far for the quality of work being done here. The first 20km is completed. We just have only 13km, all of concrete that will last the next 100 years. We’ve MTN project which is a total of 104 kilometers. Both Niger cat and RCC are doing good jobs. We’ve seen that within the next two weeks, what would be left of the Niger cat section will be zero and that of RCC is 23 kilometers."
The Minister highlighted the rationale behind prioritizing concrete for road construction: "Nobody guarantees asphalt in this country for up to 15 years. That’s why we’re insisting on concrete. We’ve seen the beauty of the road we’re building across the country."
He confirmed the timeline for completion: "We agreed with the contractors that these roads would be completed by April before the rain comes because we don’t want the rain to touch the roads."
Furthermore, Umahi appealed to the people of the South-East to support President Tinubu's re-election, enabling him to continue his governance initiatives in the region.
"When I plied this road, driving myself, I have every cause to be bolder and tell our people to vote for Mr. President because of the numerous things he has done for us. There’s no amount of hate speech or darkening counsel without knowledge that will assuage all the great work the president has done for the region."
He contrasted the current situation with his past experiences: "As a governor, there was no single federal government project throughout my eight years and four years as deputy governor as well as four years as party chairman."
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