Why Tinubu, Not Obi Will Get Ebonyi Votes In 2027 – Umahi

The Minister of Works and Housing, Senator David Umahi, has said Ebonyi state people will vote President Tinubu massively in the 2027 general election, describing the results of the 2023 polls which Peter Obi of Labour Party won in the state as an accident of history.

Though Obi who hails from the South Eastern state of Anambra is the presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress(NDC), contesting against President Tinubu in next year’s polls, Umahi insisted that  such history will never repeat itself.

The former governor stated this while conducting senior journalists and government officials on an inspection tour of federal government projects organised by Renewed Hope Ambassadors in collaboration with the Presidential Media Team in the state at the weekend.

Umahi said with the massive infrastructure transformation of the Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the state and the entire SouthEast region has endeared him to the people who will reciprocate that through  their votes for him.

The minister said the Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue Trans-Saharan Superhighway is one of the flagship projects expected to transform economic activities across the South-East, South-South and parts of the North-Central region.

“It is a colonial-era dream long forgotten, but President Tinubu has revived it, and construction is now underway. We must thank him immensely,” Umahi said.

He stated that Section One of the highway, originally designed as a 118-kilometre stretch but later extended to 123.6 kilometres, is being executed at a cost of N45 billion, with dualisation works progressing steadily.

The former Senator said Section Two, which traverses Benue and Kogi states to Nasarawa, has been awarded at a cost of N668 billion and has attained about 28 per cent completion in some sections.

Umahi said the adoption of concrete road technology by the Tinubu administration had enabled construction to continue in spite of the rainy season.

“The Trans-Sahara Superhighway is not just a road; it is an investment corridor that will catalyse trade in agricultural produce such as cassava, yam, cashew and palm oil from Cross River, Benue and Ebonyi, while also connecting Nigeria to Cameroon.

“The flyover connecting Enugu, Abakaliki, Ogoja highway is a very critical one. Yes, the contractor has not been paid, but we are creditworthy. You should not stop because we want to see how we can commission the project by December this year.

“You will see other marvellous projects of President Tinubu in the South East. If we talk about the place of President Tinubu in the South East, some people who don’t understand will continue to demarket us, but the South East people are very appreciative of what President Tinubu is doing, and I think that the leadership of Ebonyi state will demonstrate it on Monday when we will adopt Mr President as our sole candidate and of course the state governor.

“Let it be known that Ebonyi state is not ‘Obedient’ because we want to catch up with the rest of the country. We will never be Obedient, and what happened before was an accident of history that will never repeat itself. In the past, Ebonyi never had any federal government project.

“I was the party chairman for five years, deputy governor for four years, and governor for eight years, and I never saw any federal government project in Ebonyi State. So, we have every reason to be disobedient in being obedient to President Tinubu, him and him alone,” added.

Also speaking during the tour, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (South-East), Chioma Nweze, said the region was witnessing a level of federal attention not seen in decades.

“We thank Mr President because this is the first time the South-East has been intentionally included in the scheme of things. We are seeing fulfilled promises and not promises yet to be fulfilled,” she stated.

The delegation also visited the 1.3-kilometre Ndi-Egbe Bridge in Afikpo Local Government Area of Ebonyi, linking the state with Cross River which is expected to be completed in December 2026.

Umahi and the team further inspected the N35 billion Onueke Flyover project in Ebonyi Central Senatorial District, designed to ease traffic congestion along the corridor as well as the completed concrete-pavement link road connecting communities in Ebonyi and Cross River states.

Receiving the media delegation in Abakaliki, governor of Ebonyi state, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru said his administration has executed a minimum of five landmark projects in every Local Government Area of the state which cut across roads, primary healthcare centres and water schemes.

Nwifuru also declared that Ebonyi state is the safest in the country with less security challenges, assuring the team of safety.

“There is no local government that you will not see our projects. You can see that even the local government is doing projects -some did 2-3 kilometers. Some did 4 kilometers. 4-5 kilometers.

You are also going to see it.

“I assure you of the security and the neighboring governments that have been secured by the government. So, feel free. This is the safest state in this country. Are you aware of that? Since I became governor 3 years ago, I have never recorded one kidnapping case in this state,” he added.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga commended the governor for keying into the Renewed Hope Agenda by embarking on legacy projects.

“We are here on behalf of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors. The Renewed Hope Ambassadors is headed by Governor Hope Uzodimma and the RHAs, as we call them, have been trying to showcase what the President has done in the last few years.

“And along with that, all the states have also done. And that’s the reason we are here. We are not just here for the President but also here to showcase what the state government has done,” he said.

The delegation visited several projects of the Governor Nwifuru’s administration, including the Vanco Flyover and Tunnel project in Abakaliki Designed to relieve severe traffic congestion along the Ogoja Road; the 23km Ezillo-Ezzagu road in Ishielu local government and 24km NigerCem road in Ohaukwu local government area.

Others are 140 three-bedroom bungalows in Izu-Amaeze built to resettle victims and families displaced by past communal conflict and 140-unit four-bedroom duplexes for deserving civil/public servants and conversion of a 10-storey Ebonyi Trade Centre Abakaliki, to state-owned hotel.