The Presidency has tackled former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over his statement on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.
In a statement yesterday by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the current administration stated: “In his desperation to always want to hug the headlines as a self-appointed opposition leader, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has allowed himself to be led into a blind alley again by his poorly informed aides.
“In a press statement signed on his behalf by media assistant, Paul Ibe, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate in the last election made false allusions, in his futile attempt, to denigrate and find faults in the audacious and transformational Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, which was recently inaugurated as one of the signature projects of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
To Atiku’s chagrin and utter disappointment, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway has been rightly praised for the huge economic impact it will create and how it will be a game-changer in improving the quality of life of Nigerians, especially the economy of the nine coastal states it will pass through. Importantly, the road will boost the agricultural and tourism economy on a grand scale.
“Seeking to be a kill-joy, Atiku Abubakar engaged in red-herring by raising ill-thought-out allegations that only exposed his inadequacies and those of his team in getting the basic facts on an issue he badly seeks to nail the government.”
The government continued: “We have decided, however, to respond to Atiku’s misrepresentation of facts in matters of the coastal road if only to set the record straight so that unsuspecting Nigerians are not misled and misinformed. We owe it a sacred duty to ensure Atiku and his handlers do not continue to spread disinformation, as they wallow in their politics of hatred.
“Contrary to the claims in Atiku’s endorsed press statement, at no time did the administrations of former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan award contracts for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway to any company at any varied and revised amount. So, the question of cost comparison does not arise.
“The contract that was awarded was that of Lagos-Calabar coastal rail. The rail was designed as part of the standard gauge national rail network. The contract was awarded on August 4, 2021, by the Federal Executive Council, presided over by former Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the cost of $11.17 billion. The contract was to be completed in six years. The project didn’t take off.
“The Lagos-Calabar coastal rail project has always been on the card. It was another testament to the failure of the previous PDP-led government that it could not get it off the ground in 16 years it held sway.”
