The Afenifere pan-Yoruba socio-political group, has urged the National Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Bola Tinubu, citing a potential conflict of interest in the awarding of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract.
The People’s Insight recall that President Tinubu had made an official statement at the commissioning of
Kilometer, Phase 1, Section 1 of the highway.
“To the contractors and my partner in daring, it was tough for usโฆ We came together to tame the Atlantic,โ Tinubu said.
Afenifere’s leader, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, voiced his disapproval following Tinubuโs recent public acknowledgment that Gilbert Chagoury, the contractor behind the project is his business partner. This revelation came during the commissioning of Kilometer, Phase 1, Section 1 of the highway.
Olaitan criticized the decision to inaugurate only a small segment of the highway, implying that the administration might not be genuinely committed to completing the entire coastal route beyond the stretch leading to Atlantic City.
Emerging reports indicated that the project is being executed by Hitech Construction Company, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which is also behind the Eko Atlantic City, a large-scale real estate development on land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean.
At the inauguration held last Saturday, President Tinubu commended Hitech Construction, led by Chagoury, lauding the road project as a symbol of courage and commitment.
The highway, with an estimated cost of N15 trillion, is designed to span 700 kilometers through nine coastal states: Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River.
Reports also noted that the project was awarded without competitive bidding reportedly granted directly to Tinubuโs associate, Chagoury, in violation of the Public Procurement Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment Act.
Voicing out it’s opinion, the Afenifere group noted thus:
“All President Tinubu is doing is building a road to his own Atlantic City.”
“He openly said the contractor is his partner. That means he awarded a federal contract to himself.”
“Why commission just four per cent of the road? That road leads straight to their private development. If that part is done, they may abandon the rest. This is a clear conflict of interest.”
“I am calling on the National Assembly to start the impeachment process now if they are a truly independent and vibrant national assembly and if they are not equally complicit. We canโt condone such a thing,” Oba Oladipo Olaitan noted.
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