News
Umahi blasts Makinde: It’s mischievous to question road cost without context
The Works Minister, David Umahi, an engineer by training, voiced strong displeasure regarding statements from Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde amid the debate over road project expenses in the present government.
Umahi shared his views during an assessment of the Keffi segment of the Abuja-Mararaba-Keffi route, accompanied by Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule, on Saturday.
Addressing his counterpart, he stated, “I have a lot of respect for governors and the Governors Forum but if a governor that is far my junior in engineering and governance insults me I will talk back.
READ ALSO: No one is more qualified than me after Tinubu, says Dave Umahi
“One thing I’m very good at is mathematics. I’m an A student in mathematics.”
Umahi continued, “This controversy about cost per kilometer, I have told you that this project is about 43 kilometres but we have increased it to utilize the money given for the project by the last administration which was N73 billion, we have increased it to about 45 kilometers.
“If we are doing surface tracing on the shoulder, the cost will be different, it we are using asphalt on the shoulder, the cost will be different, if we are using concrete as we are using, the cost will be different.
“It is being mischievous when you ask for the cost of a length of road but by the professorial information, you can ask for cost per kilometer could be estimated, could be divided to sections.
“First, estimated cost, and estimated cost of this project, you can divide N73 billion over 45 kilometers, that is the estimated cost. This cost has the element of contingency and element of vop, they may not likely be used.
“When you have finished this project and of course, you can see that in this project, there are places you are using the existing median and there are places you will construct new median, will the cost be the same?
“it is not possible.when you have finished, you removed the vop, you removed contingency, you have not used,at be it is N40 or N70 billion and probably you have done 50 kilometers, then that is when you divide and have an average cost. Average cost of definitive and estimated cost is a probable element.
“When I heard that somebody, my brother and friend Governor Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State said…-I don’t want to join issues with him. I think he is an Engineer, an electrician, they called it electrical electronics. This is road construction.
“Electrical electronics no reach there. I am his senior in governance and his senior in engineering practice and so anything he doesn’t understand, he should call me and ask and I will not join issue because I have respect for our Governors.
“I have respect for him as my friend and brother but, he should withdraw the word that am dancing around. I never danced around and if he insists, he should come for debate, that is very important.
“There is no ambiguity in cost per kilometer but am teaching them that cost per kilometer could be divided into estimated cost, which has element of variance and average cost, which is definitive. That is what it is .
“So also is when somebody that is dangling without knowledge going asking AI what is the difference between cost per kilometer and average cost.
“I am happy that AI told him what I told him. Am happy that Nuc program on who is a professor also made me right. You can become a professor by the reason of your practice and I think God has made me one when it comes to practica. Field engineering program, that is what it is you can’t take it back.”
On the issue of heavy traffic along the Abuja-Mararawa-Keffi expressway, Umahi noted that the central authority would need cooperation from Nasarawa’s regional leadership to resolve it sustainably.
He clarified that local officials must clear informal settlements and unauthorized vending zones along the pathway, as these contribute heavily to the bottlenecks.
Umahi added, “We have market trading on the road in a number of locations, our inspection today, we are going with the Governor of Nasarawa State, if the Governor will do the demolition to create additional carriage way, we will fix additional carriage way in those locations and there will be no more traffic in those locations.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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