…Says reviews were necessary to meet standards
Senator representing Ikot-Ekpene district in Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, has refuted allegations by the state government over deliberate upward review of N71.3 billion on the Uyo-Ikot –Ekpene-Aba dual carriage road.
The senator, who made this disclosure to journalists in Abuja, described the allegation as an act of ignorance over the reasons for the upward review of the Uyo-Ikot-Ekpene dual carriage road that links Akwa Ibom to parts of the south east.
Akpabio noted that contrary to the allegation that his administration executed only 15 kilometres of the road project from 2011-2015, the project was actually a achievement of his administration, which according to him, built several roads in the state with some of the best technologies in the road construction business Including best quality asphalt and other necessary materials required for the durability the road network in the state by awarding most of the contracts to Julius Berger Construction Company, describing it as the best in road networks in the country.
He stressed that the said project does not entail just the construction of common express lanes, but a composition of other capital projects such as over-head-bridges, drainages, among other vital structures needed to be put in place to perfect the dual road network that links about four major cities in Akwa Ibom in order to ensure safety of both commuters and pedestrians.
Speaking on his defection, Akpabio explained that his opting out of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Peoples Congress, APC, was for “national interest”, divinely designed by God, in order to serve the people better from selfish politicians who deliberately plot the destruction of the Buhari led administration.
“My departure from the PDP was for national interest which was designed by God to give the people a new lease of life. Looking at what happened in 2015 before the election, there was an amalgam of forces to truncate Buhari and all he stood for which was capable of endangering Nigeria’s democracy, mostly as a result of the security challenges in the country.
“I noticed a replication of the same selfish incidences emerging again ahead of next year’s election with the mass defection by some selfish politicians and trivializing of salient issues so as to distabilise the government and structure of Buhari’s administration. So, those of us with the interest of the country at heart saw the need to come together to stabilize the polity before the forthcoming election.”
“I’ll rather call for conspiracy among us all so as to defeat our looming challenges such as the insurgencies by Boko Haram, bring peace to south east region and other parts of the country”. He said.
