‘PDP  Should Take Responsibility for Deplorable Ekpoma-Benin Road’

The People’s Democratic Party have been told to own up to the deplorable condition of Ekpoma-Benin highway and apologise to the youths who were arrested while protesting the state of road in the  Ekpoma area.

The youths were arrested and prevented by military officials earlier in the week from protesting on the expressway as a long queue of trailers and tankers have worsen the condition of the road.

 But the Coalition of Esan Youth Movements in a statement signed by the group’s convener, Odion Ighodaro,  said the road was awarded in 2013 when a son of Edo state and Esanland, Honourable Mike Onolememen, a PDP chieftain was Minister of Works.

“We remember he (Onolememen) promised Nigerians that the road will be completed within 30 months. He also added then that the federal government awarded the contract to three different companies so that work can be hasten on the road. The minister in his wisdom revoked one of the contractor’s move to start work from Ewu in Edo central up to Ehor junction, but approved the start of the work from Auchi on one section and Benin on another section.”

“If our son, the then minister of works had allowed the work to continue simultaneously at Ewu through Ekpoma because of the university and up to Ehor, the deplorable condition at Ekpoma would have been averted today. This same former minister of works who failed a simple test of management for selfish reasons is back again contesting for the senate under the same PDP.”

Continuing, the Coalition of Esan Youth Movements said though the former minister said he planned to continue the Ewu section of the work when he returned for the second time in 2015 as minister, “we are aware that he gambled it on the altar of politics because he wanted to be governor in 2016.”

The group also added that another son of Esanland, Senator Clifford Ordia of the PDP has been senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee for works for seven years now, “yet he could not influence the repairs of the road.”

 “This we believe calls for sober reflection on the caliber of politicians and those who want to lead us in Esanland and in Edo state,”  Ighodaro said.

While lamenting the intolerable situation of the road, the coalition added that several persons have been killed by kidnappers who take advantage of the bad condition of the expressway to inflict pains on motorists and residents alike.

The group called on the current Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to extend his  good gesture to the people of Esanland by fixing the road in Ekpoma to make it motorable.

“Our son was your predecessor but he failed us. If you come to our aid, you will be our son and we will celebrate you,” Ighodaro stated.

The  recent protest by Esan youths against the condition of the road led to heavy-duty vehicles and other road users being stranded on the road while many found alternative routes to get to their destinations. The protest led to long queues stretching from the Ujoelen area of the highway to Ambrose Alli University’s main gate and beyond, towards Benin. A similar situation applied to the stretch towards Auchi where the queue extended beyond the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.

Speaking earlier in the week, the Esan Liberation Movement led by Prosper Iyere, who organised the blockade, said they would occupy the road until the government responded to their demands to fix it.