Not long ago the Minister of Works, Chief Dave Umahi, restored the Second Niger Bridge to normal traffic, following its closure for remedial work. The bridge built in 1965, carrying 60 years of Nigeria’s weight, had been closed since September 7 after engineers discovered that vandals had removed bolts, nuts and expansion joint steelwork – an act of national self-sabotage. This had triggered alarm in members of the public, a development that eventually led to its closure for remedial work until respite came via the remedial work on the bridge.
That is where engineering should have ended and politics should have stayed away. It did not.
But what happened after the remedial work was not expected. The Minister of Works ordered that the pictures of the country’s President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, should adorn the entire bridge as a mark of gratitude by the People of the Southeast to the President for fixing the failed portions of the bridge.
The bridge was adorned with large photographs of President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Governor Charles Soludo and APC banners. The Minister, singing, ”On Your Mandate We Shall Stand”, used the podium to attack Peter Obi and the Obidient movement, asking, ‘Can Peter Obi do what Tinubu is doing?’ He ordered that all illegal adverts be removed from the bridge – only to replace them with pictures of Tinubu. He told Ndigbo not to ‘throw away their votes’ in 2027.
What Anambrarians and Deltans saw at that reopening was not a rehabilitation ceremony. It was a campaign rally.
It was thus, argued that if the current Federal Government could do this on a bridge it did not build, only God knows what the original builders of the bridge in the First Republic would have done.
Nevertheless, when on October 15, Umahi reopened the First Niger Bridge, Nigerians who ply Onitsha-Asaba daily, heaved a sigh of relief, despite the troubling politics of remedial work.
But the whole thing should be looked at in the following ways:
Weaponizing Maintenance
Every bridge needs maintenance. The Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos was closed for months for similar works. It was reopened without Tinubu’s face plastered on every pillar. The Carter Bridge was not turned into a Tinubu gallery. Why then must the First Niger Bridge, a symbol of South-East/South-South unity, be turned into a partisan billboard?
Umahi himself said the work involved resurfacing, solar lights, CCTV, median barriers and three turnaround points. Laudable. But when you link CCTV cameras to the Second Niger Bridge and link both bridges to 2027 votes, you reduce critical infrastructure to political infrastructure.
The Dangerous Precedent
Umahi’s directive is clear: ‘For now, the bridge will be decorated with the pictures of President Tinubu. The President has worked so hard and we need to reward his hard work.’ He also warned that no one could erect billboards on federal highways without authorisation from the Ministry of Works.
So, is the Ministry of Works now the APC Presidential Campaign Council? Federal law prohibits erecting political materials on federal infrastructure. The Minister cannot condemn illegal adverts on one hand and erect illegal political adverts on the other. If every minister decorates his project with his principal’s picture, will we soon have Wike’s face on Abuja roads and Tunji-Ojo’s face on immigration checkpoints?
The Insult to the Southeast
The deepest politics is emotional. Umahi told the Southeast: ‘In the last election, we did not vote for him so well, yet he is bringing projects to our region.’
That is not inclusion; that is blackmail. Infrastructure is not a favour the President does in exchange for votes. It is a right funded by Southeast oil, Southeast VAT, Southeast sweat. The First Niger Bridge was not built by APC; it was maintained by Nigeria.
When you tell a people, ‘We gave you a bridge despite you, not voting for us, so now, you must vote for us,’ you remind them that in your mind, they are still outsiders who must earn citizenship with ballots.
Our Position
This newspaper commends the Federal Government for acting swiftly to save the First Niger Bridge. Six weeks of closure – extended from the initial September 7-21 date due to rains – was a sacrifice that averted a national disaster.
But we condemn the politicization of its reopening. Mr. Umahi should do the following things:
Remove partisan pictures and APC banners from the First Niger Bridge immediately and restore its status as a national monument.
Focus on the real threats he himself raised – illegal sand dredging within 10km of the bridge, overloaded trucks, and lack of surveillance centres.
Let the work speak. If Tinubu has performed in the Southeast, the people will see it. They do not need to be coerced on a bridge.
A bridge connects two banks. A good government connects two peoples. When you turn a bridge into a billboard, you block both.
Remove the pictures. Keep the lights.
