He Is Just A Local Champion – Donald Duke Slams Diri Over Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described the governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri as a local champion.

Naija News reports that Duke was responding to the governor’s criticism of his position on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Diri had expressed disappointment with Duke’s earlier claim that constructing the highway through Bayelsa would be impracticable because of the state’s swampy terrain.

Reacting during an interview on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Thursday, the former Cross River governor insisted that the coastal road project was not feasible because of its cost and the terrain it would traverse.

He dismissed Diri’s defence of the project, saying the governor was viewing the matter from a state-level perspective rather than considering the wider implications for Nigeria.

“And the governor of Bayelsa, if he did say so, I don’t know the fellow, but if he did say so, I think he’s just being a local champion,” Duke said.

He added that his regional origin did not prevent him from viewing the project from a national perspective.

“I’m from the South-South. I’m a Nigerian. South-South just happens to be where I originated from. But I’m looking at the totality of Nigeria,” he said.

Duke maintained that Nigeria lacked the financial capacity to undertake the project, arguing that the government was already borrowing to fund infrastructure development.

It’s just not feasible. We don’t have the kind of money to do it. We’re literally borrowing to even stretch Epe stretch. We’re borrowing. We can’t do it,” he said.

Duke also questioned the decision to divert a section of the road to the East-West Road, asking whether the existing highway had been considered from the start of the project.

“Now, they have said that they’re going to divert the road onto the East-West Highway. Weren’t they aware of the East-West Highway from get-go?” he asked.