The Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, and the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi, have hailed the people of the South East zone for heeding the call not to participate in the August nationwide protests.
The South East leaders disclosed this on Sunday while inspecting various road projects by the Federal Government and the Enugu State Government on the Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Abakaliki, and Enugu-Port Harcourt expressways.
According to them, the action by the South East people had prevented the needless loss of Igbo lives, businesses, and property, demonstrating faith in the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Gov. Mbah stated, “I also want to take the opportunity to commend our people greatly for heeding our call to shun the protests and go about their business. We commend them highly because they understand the value of hard-work.
“Sometimes, you may not be able to appreciate the effect of government policies immediately, but I tell you that some of these policies are well-intentioned. With time, if we can just exercise a little more patience with the Federal Government, we are going to begin to see the values of these reforms.
“We want to continue to call on our people to go about their business and know that if they destroy our assets, we are still going to use the wealth of our common patrimony to fix those assets. So, we must remain focused and continue to do our work.”
The Minister of Works also stated that the Igbo people and South Easterners made a loud statement by not protesting.
“We are not going to protest. We want proper integration in the affairs of this country. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr President, started it by giving an Igbo man the Minister of Works, appointing an Igbo Man as a service chief, among others.
“We have been excluded from governance and development in the past. But now, you can see infrastructural developments in South-East. So, why should we protest against a man who has given to us what was never given to us before?
“I thank Governor Mbah very much for showing leadership not only in development strides, but also when it mattered most. I appreciate other governors and other states that did not protest,”the Minister concluded.
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