Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has described Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri as a “local champion” following the governor’s criticism of his position on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, responded to Diri during an interview on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Thursday, insisting that the coastal road project was not feasible because of its cost and the terrain it would traverse.
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.
The Bayelsa governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, argued that Duke was out of touch with developments in the state, where his administration had built roads and bridges across swamps and mangroves.
“Clearly, he is not abreast of current developments in road construction and infrastructure development in our state,” Diri said.
Responding, the PRP candidate 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 assessing 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. Vanguard
