FG Denies Renaming Abuja’s Murtala Muhammed Way after Wole Soyinka

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The federal government has denied as rumours in public domain reports that the Murtala Muhammed Expressed Way that runs from Kubwa to Asokoro in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has been renamed as Wole Soyinka Way.

The Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Rabiu Ibrahim, yesterday issued the statement denying the renaming.

He said renaming of the Murtala Mohammed Expressway Way had never been contemplated by the administration.

It would be recalled that on June 4, 2024, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated a new road in the FCT codenamed Arterial Road N20 (from Katampe to Jahi), which links the existing Outer Northern Expressway (also known as Murtala Mohammed Expressway) to the Northern Parkway (also called Ahmadu Bello Way).

During the inauguration of the N20 (which is a new road), FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, proposed to the President that the road be named after African Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, a request which the President agreed to.

“Therefore, it is the Arterial Road N20 that is named after Prof Soyinka. The Murtala Mohammed Expressway remains unchanged and continues to bear the name of our esteemed former Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed,” the statement said.

It urgess all citizens to disregard any misinformation regarding the renaming of the Murtala Mohammed Expressway as a report that is entirely false and only exists in the imagination of its purveyors.