VIDEO: I didn’t attack anyone, only asked South-East to vote Tinubu —Umahi

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has denied claims that he is attacking Peter Obi’s supporters, popularly known as Obidients, insisting he has only been presenting facts to Nigerians in the South-East on why they should support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid.

Umahi spoke in a video interview shared on Facebook by Alex Oguta on Friday, where he addressed backlash from Obidients over his political comments and also responded to calls for him to debate former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, over an uncompleted federal road project.

The minister said he took the criticism from Obidients in his stride, describing it as evidence that his message was resonating.

“I saw what they said to me; they have been insulting me, but you know, I enjoyed this honestly, because it shows that what I’m doing is touching them,” Umahi said.

He, however, acknowledged that not all reactions to his comments had been hostile, noting that some critics had raised more measured objections.

“There are some of them that are also reasonable. They say, you only say this, that you’re attacking people,” he said.

Umahi rejected the characterisation, stressing that his message was strictly a call on South-East residents to back Tinubu rather than an attack on any individual or group.

“I say no, I’m not attacking people. I’m asking people in South-_East and Nigeria not to vote for him, to vote for President Bola Tinubu. And I have my facts,” he said, adding that as a lawmaker, he remained open to debate.

The minister also addressed calls from critics for him to hold a public debate with Oshiomhole, whom he said he would rather engage privately given their long-standing relationship.

“They said I should go and debate with Oshiomole. I cannot debate with Oshiomole; I can reason with him. He’s my senior in governance. He’s also my senior in legislature. And he’s my very good friend. We sat together when I was deputy governor, he was governor, we sat together,” Umahi said.

The dispute centres on a stretch of federal road running from Lokoja through Benin to Warri, which Umahi said was awarded during Oshiomhole’s tenure in office but left largely uncompleted.

“But the road he’s talking about was awarded, you know, that stretch from Lokoja, you know, down to Benin, down to Warri, was awarded in 2018 when he was still in office. You know, I expected him to have constructed part of that federal road,” Umahi said.

The minister said he was not raising the matter as a complaint but was drawing a contrast with his own record on federal road projects during his time as governor.

“You know, I’m not complaining, but because when I was governor, I did a lot of federal roads. I didn’t complain,” he said.

𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎: 𝐈 𝐃𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡-𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐨 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐛𝐮 —𝐔𝐦𝐚𝐡𝐢

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