Minister of Works, David Umahi, has called on former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to apologise to President Bola Tinubu over claims that the President has been focusing national development efforts disproportionately on the South.
Responding to Kwankwaso’s recent remarks, Umahi described the statement as misleading and urged Nigerians to disregard it.
“To my brother, Senator Kwankwaso, you owe our President Tinubu an apology and a duty to withdraw your statement using the information I have provided herein for the benefit of Nigerians and the unity of the nation,” Umahi said in a statement posted on X by Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga on Saturday.
“I request the good people of Nigeria to ignore Senator Kwankwaso’s misleading statement and know that President Tinubu is fairly committed to developing every part of this country with fairness, equity, and the fear of God.”
Umahi accused Kwankwaso of trying to stir division under the guise of regional advocacy.
“Senator Kwankwaso’s comment was made intentionally to deceive our brothers and sisters in the North and to pretend that he loves the North more than any other leader from the North,” he said.
“I consider Senator Kwankwaso’s statement as a statement made out of desperation and as part of his struggle with a few others who believe that they can inherit the impeccable legacy of our dear late President Muhammadu Buhari, and that the only way available for them towards achieving the same is to be divisive and pretentious.”
“Trying to be like our late President Buhari cannot be a job of three decades and cannot be done with deceit.”
The minister also highlighted several major infrastructure projects currently ongoing in the North as part of the Tinubu administration’s national development efforts.
“As of today, we have 258 km ongoing at Kebbi section and 120 km ongoing at the Sokoto section. The total ongoing is 378 km by six lanes or 756 km by three lanes in the North,” he said, referring to the 1,068km Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
He added that the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe Road, a 439 km stretch, is being redesigned from flexible to rigid pavement to ensure durability, following the President’s directive and in line with other legacy projects.
“In the four legacy projects, the North has 52 per cent and the South 48 per cent. Within the ongoing projects as of today, the South has 409 km by three lanes and the North has 756 km by three lanes.”
He questioned why critics often overlook the scope of Northern projects.
“The facts are there. I wonder why people don’t talk about other legacy projects of Mr. President, but will always dwell on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. This road has only 220 km by three lanes in Lagos State, which is ongoing now.”
“Cross River and Akwa Ibom have 130 km by three lanes that is ongoing, whereas Kebbi alone has 316 km by three lanes that is ongoing. Sokoto has 240 km by three lanes that is ongoing. I think Senator Kwankwaso is not fair to Mr. President and the unity of our country.”
Summarizing his argument, Umahi insisted that President Tinubu has been fair in his distribution of development projects.
“I can say with all sense of responsibility that President Tinubu is a fair President. He has favoured the North in road development more than the South, especially the North West, where Senator Kwankwaso comes from,” he said.
Kwankwaso had made the controversial claim on Thursday during the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment, where he accused the federal government of sidelining the North in development matters.
“From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country,” Kwankwaso had said.
“Let me advise those who are struggling by all means to take everything to remember that some of the issues that we have in this part of the country today have to do with the lack of enough resources and mismanagement of the little that comes in.”
“That is why we have insecurity, we have poverty, and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it would go everywhere.”
