The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to name the Second Niger Bridge after former Biafra warlord, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
In a statement signed on Thursday by its Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Ohanaeze said that the project should be named as Odumegwu Bridge instead of the proposed name, Buhari Bridge to honour the South East and its people.
The organisation said the completion of the project had earned Buhari forgiveness from the Igbo people for not fulfilling his 2015 electoral promises, which included revamping the Enugu coal mine.
Ohanaeze stated that the completion of the Second Niger Bridge will strengthen the level of people’s confidence in expecting more from the Buhari administration.
The organisation however commended the Buhari administration for the completion of the project within four years.
The statement read in part, “We are conscious of the fact that there are about 3.3 km of uncompleted road from the Asaba axis and 7km of uncompleted road from the Anambra axis of the second Niger Bridge.
“We are hopeful that the contractors will expedite actions for the realisation of 10.3 km of roads from both axes of the roads to ensure that commuters and road users will enjoy the benefits of the Second Niger Bridge during the festival period of Christmas and New Year.
“This is a legacy project that Ndigbo will always refer to as the mother of all infrastructural facilities completed by Buhari’s government and should be renamed after Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Bridge instead of the proposed name, Buhari Bridge.
“Ndigbo are relieved of unbelievable treaties of previous governments on the Second Niger Bridge and also pardon President Buhari over his inability to fulfil other 2015 electoral promises, which included the revamping of the Enugu coal mine.
“The announcement of the completion of the Second Niger Bridge, including a 35km bypass road linking Anambra and Delta states through a concession under a public-private partnership scheme, has restored the confidence of Ndigbo that the project, which started on September 1, 2018, will be fully ready for inauguration by December 2022. Ndigbo is grateful for this feat and urges President Buhari to complete other projects in the southeast before May 2023.”
This article was originally published on Naija News