A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress APC in Abia state, Chief Sam Onuigbo has berated a senior advocate of Nigerian Mr. Monday Ubani over claims he made in a recent petition to president Bola Tinubu regarding the current state of the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot- Ekpene road.
Addressing a news conference on the matter, Chief Onuigbo, a two time former federal lawmaker and now member of the North East Development Commission Board described the claims by the senior lawyer as spurious, sensational and without any iota of representation of the true facts currently on ground.
He accused Mr. Ubani is deliberately trying to stoke public disaffection and misrepresentation of the actual state of affairs regarding the ongoing project which tantamount to disservice to the federal government and the constituents he claims to speak for.
“I wish to state that contrary to Ubani’s false claim that the project has been “abandoned,” the reality on ground is that construction is in progress. From June 2023(shortly after President Tinubu’s Administration took off), 8.42 km of the terribly-failed sections has been completed, and 4.47 km of concrete work/drains has been achieved. In the first
quarter of 2025(January to March), 880m of asphalt binder course, 3.22 km of wearing course, and 1.53 km of concrete drains have been completed.
“For emphasis, the Federal Executive Council, presided over by President Bola Tinubu GCFR, on February 03, 2025 approved an augmentation of #14.37B for the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot- Ekpene Road to ensure that the construction of the road continues.
“Consequently, the suggestion of abandonment and total neglect by Ubani two months after the approval by the FEC is a blatant falsehood that conveniently committed the substantial progress achieved on this project…. , he pointed out.
Chief Onuigbo maintained that the suggestion of abandonment and total neglect by Mr.Ubani in his petition wherein he omitted either out of mischief or oversight, the fact that substantial progress achieved on the project despite the logistics and environmental
challenges inherent in executing such massive projects, is not just an exaggeration, but also a calculated distortion designed to provoke undue alarm rather than foster constructive dialogue.
According to the Abia APC Chieftain, “Perhaps it is pertinent to note that the same Barrister Ubani wrote a letter dated 1st October 2021 to President Buhari alleging that the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Federal Road had been abandoned.
“This was, at the time, found to be false. He orchestrated a similar scheme on June 1, 2023, even with some allegations against the former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.
“A review of the claims contained in that scheme also turned out to be false. It must be of grave concern to broader interest groups (outside Ubani’s narrow base) that a man elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria last year should sustain and embellish protracted theory of falsehood concerning this Federal Road”, he narrated.
Chief Onuigbo insisted that the petitioner’s fixation on the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot- Ekpene Road project is just to play to the gallery and an attempt to extricate himself from the dilemma of being a Labour Party Chieftain and an appointee of Abia State Governor and yet an appointee of one of the leaders of the APC-led government at the same time.
While disclosing that Mr. Ubani serves on the Governing Council of Abia State University and at the same time as a Senior Special Adviser to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Former National Assembly member reminded him that as a lawyer, facts and truth should guide his public communications.
“Judging by his actions to attempt to smear and de-market President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, one wonders whose interest Barrister Ubani is projecting or could it be that he is acting a script.
“As we speak, I am reliably informed the contractor, Hartland Construction Company, has remained on-site, executing the said project, despite intermittent delays, some attributable to natural impediments, inevitable bureaucratic recalibrations, and funding challenges that accompany large-scale federal projects.
“Therefore, to insinuate that the project has been abandoned is not only disingenuous, but potrays a troubling disregard for verifiable facts.
“Indeed, the NNPCL’s intervention, which the petitioner acknowledges, is a testament to Tinubu administration’s commitment to ensuring the project’s continuity”, he explained.
He therefore used the forum to thank President Bola Tinubu’s APC-controlled Federal Government that has continued to fund this important road network which connects Abia, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Cross-Rivers states even down to Cameroun while respectfully urging him and his team to sustain their efforts that has brought great relief to the users of this all-important road.
