APC, PDP trade words over Okowa’s approval of 70 roads in Delta

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State has described Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s approval of 70 roads across the state as a panicky political step.

This was contained in a statement by Cogent Owhe, which The Guardian obtained exclusively through the Great Ogboru Campaign Organisation.

According to him: “It is not out of place for Delta people in and out of politics to read gimmick into the award of 70 roads in the twilight of a government. Road construction is not a project that can be completed in few weeks, but several months.

“In the month of December, when the life span of an annual budget is coming to an end, no responsible government that believes in transparency and due process will get itself involved in new projects.”

The statement added that a government that has a few months to wind up and “surrender the reins of government to the incoming APC government has no justification for to go into the venture at this point in time.”

However, in a swift reaction, the People Democratic Party (PDP), dismissed the position of the APC, describing it as laughable and reflective of a party that has nothing to say, except to criticise the ruling government’s initiatives to make life better for the people.

The PDP, in a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, said: “The Okowa administration had already delivered over 317 roads across Delta State since 2015, and the 70 roads now marked for construction and rehabilitation are those either inherited from the former administration, or those on which work is ongoing.”

He added that some of the roads, which had been stalled by the rainy season, now needed to be accelerated with the dry season, which has arrived.

Also, the state Commissioner for Information, Ogbueshi Patrick Ukah, said: “It is a none issue, as the governor had recently, while addressing the media, promised to mobilise contractors back on site as soon as the dry season begins.

“The governor is called roadmaster because of the results so far achieved across the state. So I don’t want join issues with the APC that is barely on ground in Delta State.”