The Delta State Commissioner for Works (Highways and Urban Roads), Comrade Reuben Izeze, has dismissed claims by political aide to former Deputy Senate President, Comrade Chuks Erhire, that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has not executed any project worth N500 million in Ndokwa and Ukwuani areas.
Erhire, an aide to Ovie Omo-Agege, had in a viral video challenged residents of Ndokwa West, Ndokwa East, and Ukwuani Local Government Areas to name any significant project undertaken by the Oborevwori administration, alleging that despite over N2 trillion in allocations, no meaningful development had been recorded.
Responding in a strongly worded statement issued early Saturday, Izeze accused Erhire of resorting to “innuendos, outright falsehood and incitement,” stressing that while political advocacy was expected, the spread of misinformation could not be ignored.
“I do not have a quarrel with your efforts to market your principal,” Izeze said, “but the moment you degenerated into outright falsehood and incitement, it became necessary to set the record straight.”
The commissioner described Erhire’s claim that the governor had not invested up to N500 million in any project across Ndokwa Nation as “patently false, misleading and inciting,” insisting that ongoing infrastructure projects in the area run into tens of billions of naira.
He reeled out a list of 16 major road and infrastructure projects currently being handled by the Ministry of Works, including the construction of the Aboh–Akarai road with a bridge across the Okira River in Ndokwa East, valued at N29.8 billion, and the reconstruction of the Emu Ebendo–Iyasele–Ashaka road spanning Ndokwa West and East, costing N8.5 billion.
Other projects cited include the construction of Inam-Abbi Access Road and Eweshi Road, each valued at N5 billion; the Amai–Aragba Road project at N6.5 billion; and the access road to the Kwale Free Trade Zone estimated at N6 billion.
He also listed multiple road rehabilitation works and erosion control projects across the three local government areas.
According to Izeze, the cumulative value of the projects under the Highways and Urban Roads Department alone stands at approximately N80 billion.
“These 16 projects are restricted to the Department of Highways and Urban Roads of the Delta State Ministry of Works only,” he noted, adding that other government agencies including DESOPADEC, the Ministries of Health and Education, as well as the Rural Roads Department, are executing additional projects across Ndokwa and Ukwuani communities.
The commissioner maintained that the evidence of development across the region speaks for itself, concluding with the legal maxim res ipsa loquitur, “the facts speak for themselves.”
He urged the public to disregard what he described as misleading narratives and to rely on verifiable facts regarding the state government’s development efforts.