All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has applauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of works David Umahi, for setting a six-month timeline to reconstruct the deplorable Benin-Auchi-Okene Highway.
At a meeting with road contractors handling the project last week, Umahi said the federal government has designed a plan to complete the construction of the Benin-Lokoja Road project within six months.
In his reaction to the development, Okpebholo who is popularly known as Akpakomiza praised the federal government saying that President Tinubu had rekindled the hope of the people of Edo State through the road project.
He said, “The president has rekindled our hope. We didn’t know how we were going to campaign because of bad roads; I commend the minister for the swift action. If this is how Nigeria works, everybody will want to come back home. Nobody will want to leave the country.”
The Benin-Auchi-Okene Road project was awarded in 2012 but could not be completed. The first section from Lokoja is being handled by CGC, the second section is being handled by Mother Cat, the third section is handled by Dantata and Sawoe and the last section is handled by RCC.
The project was at the centre of the first motion co-sponsored by Senators Adams Oshiomhole and Okpebholo at the 10th Assembly last year. Both senators have again mounted pressure on the government claiming that the rainy season would worsen the condition of the road.
Also yesterday, a Benin socio-cultural group, Edo’Okpa Youth Movement, commended the duo of Oshiomhole and Okpebholo over their intervention in the abandoned highway project, which the federal government has promised to fix.
The group led by Barrister Pascal Ero at a press briefing in Benin, the state capital, said the state had suffered total neglect as vehicles from the North to the South now prefer to go through Lokoja or Okene, to avoid the deplorable Benin-Auchi-Okene Expressway which passes through the state.
Ero said, “Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Okpebholo, popularly called Akpakomiza have just demonstrated that they can collaborate with federal government to give Edo people good roads and better infrastructure.
“In this 21st century, when a governor plays politics with the lives of the people, we will also play politics with him too. We will support the APC Governorship candidate so that he can work with federal government to repair our roads and bring developments to us at home,” Barrister Ero said.
Extoling the leadership qualities in Akpakomiza, Ero said, “We don’t want those who will come and speak grammar for us in Government House again. We want those who will work. We want action and Akpakomiza is demonstrating action as you can see.”