By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Senate Minority Leader and lawmaker representing Benue South District, Senator Abba Moro has flagged-off construction work on the long abandoned 51km Otukpo-Obi-Oju Federal road.

The strategic road which connects the Igede speaking people of Benue state with other parts of the southern district and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja runs through Otukpo, Obi and Oju Local Government Areas, LGAs, of the state.

The lawmaker’s Media Adviser, Emmanuel John in a statement said Senator Moro who performed the flag-off weekend from the Akpegede end of the road, thanked God for making the exercise a reality describing it as a milestone and the fulfillment of his long-held dream and promise he made to himself to achieve for his people.

He said: “Today in the annals of our history we gathered here to mark a milestone in our lives. It gives me a personal sense of fulfillment to be the one undertaking the activity of flagging-off the reconstruction of the Otukpo-Obi-Oju road.

“Since the Second Republic, the Oweto-Otukpo-Oju road construction has been in the domain of public discourse, yet its actualization has been a mirage in the face of too many needs competing for space in an environment of very limited resources.

“I am not under any illusion but what should be done must be done. To doomsayers, this task is impossible but to Abba Moro and incurable optimists it is possible. One thing that I have been clear about is that my motivation is internal, based on my conscience and my commitment to the upliftment of my constituents in my firm belief that I must make a difference.

“I have always believed that I have to do what I have to do because fighting for our future and the future of generations yet unborn is the reason why you entrusted me with your mandate to represent you in the National Assembly in the first place. And I seek for no external validation of my activities.

“The situation now is that a few noisy minority have cultivated the culture of demonizing, criminalizing and ‘poisoning the well of public opinion’ with so much malice and mean spirited lies that seek to overwhelm with fierce urgency the plans of what I’m doing and what I intend to do for the people of Benue South Senatorial District.

“Many of our people are being manipulated by a vocal few with the privilege of spaces on social media, people who are obsessed with the presence of Abba Moro seeking to undermine every effort that I make. Rather than discuss the mismanagement of the construction of Oru bridge, a Local Government Chairman requesting the police to stop work on the construction of a road because it didn’t have his blessing, or a community obstructing the electrification of another community because they do not have electricity; social media users concocting innuendos and fabricating lies to undermine efforts to raise the bar of community development.

“Let me be clear here; I have lived way too much inside my own head for any of those things and people to matter to me anymore. We must take deliberate steps to raise the consciousness of people on what is desirable and achievable.

“My commitment to making a difference and ameliorating the standard of living of our people is unwavering and that is why we are here today to flag off the reconstruction of the Otukpo-Obi-Oju road.”

In their separate messages, the State Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ezekiel Adaji; Minority Leader of the Benue State House of Assembly, Mr. Mike Audu; Adutu’Obi, Chief Chris Ijale; Mr. Tony Idikwu; representative of Movement for Igede Advancement, Prof. Ogor Omonyi; Chief John Enyi; former Chairman of Otukpo LGA, Chief George Ali; representative of Oju LGA Chairman Ekpo Isaac; National Coordinator of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) Shaba Ibrahim; PDP State Women Leader, Mrs Alice Albert, and Leader of Omi’Nyi Igede in Abuja, Mr. Jerry Edube among others eulogized Senator Moro for the quality leadership and representation he had been providing the people of the District.

They also commended him for having the people at heart and attending to their needs and not failing them in any way assuring him of their continued prayers and support

Highlight of the event was the formal hand over of the road to the representative of the awarding agency, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, NBBRI, by the Second Class Chiefs of Igede land, HRH Dr. Chris Ijale and HRH Dr. Dan Ulegede, who in turn handed it over to the contractor, Pees Investment Ltd.