Coastal highway will end Atiku’s presidential ambition – Presidency

The presidency yesterday said the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, is against the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway because the project will end his presidential election in 2027.

Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement, said “If not blinded by political ill-will,  Atiku knows that the right thing for him to do is to applaud President Bola Tinubu for the ambitious and audacious Lagos-Calabar Highway, which was authorised by the Federal Executive Council.”

Atiku had in a statement on Sunday accused President Tinubu of conflict of interest for awarding the project to Hitech, a company that is owned by his business partner, the Chagoury family.

The former vice president also revealed that Seyi Tinubu is a board member of one of the companies owned by Chagoury family, saying that the demolition of structures to give way for the coastal highway will impede foreign direct investment into the country.

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But reacting to Atiku’s statement, Onanuga said there was no conflict of interest anywhere as Seyi Tinubu is an adult and can conduct his lawful businesses anywhere in the country or elsewhere.

The special adviser also explained that the statement credited to Atiku that Nigeria is now the fourth economy in Africa was no longer news, but added quickly that the country will soon bounce back to becoming the first economy in the continent.

He said: “Atiku has been waging an unrelenting war against this all-important and transformative project for no justifiable reasons other than bad politics. 

“Atiku knows that its grand success and other projects to be unfurled, such as the Badagry-Sokoto superhighway, will be a major boost for President Tinubu and finally upend his perennial presidential ambition.”

He also said that the “Nigerian economy is being reclassified by the IMF as the fourth largest in Africa is stale news. This happened because of the devaluation of the naira and President Tinubu’s determined effort to set the economy on the path of sustainable growth. 

“Under the progressive, bold, inventive, and innovative leadership of President Tinubu, Nigeria will bounce back to where it rightfully belongs as Africa’s largest market and biggest economy.”