The presidential ticket of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, may suffer huge setback over the deplorable state of Onicha-Uku township road linking the Asaba-Benin expressway in Ubulu-Uku, Aniocha south local government area of Delta State.
The 7 kilometer road which was awarded by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who was then Senate Committee Chairman to Kachi and BUBE Nigeria Limited in 2015 and was re-awarded in 2019, has caused untold hardship to the community.
Addressing journalists after indigenes protested the injustice to drive home their grievances, the Community Secretary Mr. Osaji Ephraim, in their protest letter, disclosed that the State government at a time told a group of journalists that the road was in the 2020 budget.
He also revealed that they were assured again that the road was equally in the 2022 budget, saying that they are still confused on who and what to believe, just as they appealed to the state government to come to their rescue.
They sized the opportunity to call on Atiku to prevail on Okowa to do the needful by repairing the road as the community has about 6000 eligible voters who have acquired their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).
According to the protest letter, “We also want to call on the PDP presidential flag bearer, Mr. Atiku Abubakar, to prevail on his running mate, Senator Okowa, to do the needful and repair the road and write his name in gold.
“We have been voting for the PDP since democracy and we have over 6000 eligible voters who have acquired PVCs.
“We shall make a statement soon, concerning our preferred choice of candidate for the presidential and governorship candidates for the 2023 general elections and our choice will be determined by the government’s action on the deplorable state of Ubulu-Uku-Onicha-Ugbo road.
“It is not a threat but without mincing words, we shall be making a categorical statement. We want to remind our dear candidates that our votes must count this time around because we have seriously enlightened our people, including the youths on how best to use their PVCs this time around”, he warned.
