Ijaw Youths Fault Umahi Over Coastal Highway, Threaten Political Fallout for APC in 2027

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has rejected any plan to divert the 750km Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway to the East–West Road, warning that such a move would cost President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the ruling party dearly in the South-South ahead of the 2027 elections.

The group spoke on Thursday, October 15, 2026, at a national press conference by the 10th National Executive Committee led by Dr. Doubra Okotete. It said it was shocked by remarks credited to the Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, suggesting that the highway would now run from Ondo State to the East–West Road, leaving out Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.

The IYC dismissed the reported reasons of financial constraints and difficult terrain as insulting and provocative. It asked how a project could be too costly in a region that produces the oil and gas funding the Federation Account, and noted that the road had already covered the President's South-West region.

The council also took issue with former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke, who it said had claimed on national television that continuing the highway was neither feasible nor affordable. It offered him a fully funded trip to Bayelsa State to see what state governments are building across swamps and rivers.

To make its case, the IYC pointed to projects already underway in the region:

- Bayelsa: Governor Douye Diri is building the 21km Nembe–Brass Road with over 15 bridges, and the Yenagoa–Oporoma–Ukubie Road, where a 630-metre bridge over the Nun River is complete. Work is also ongoing on the Ekeremor–Agge Road leading to the proposed Agge Seaport site.

- Rivers: The Trans-Kalabari Road is being funded by the state government.

- NDDC: The Port Harcourt–Okrika Road with the 1.2km Kaa–Ataba Bridge, the 27.1km Bonny Ring Road with over 13 bridges, and the 24km Gbaregolor–Ogolaha road in Delta State.

The group said this showed that what the highway needs is political will, not engineering.

On the politics, the IYC warned that a diversion would be "suicidal" for the President's and the ruling party's re-election bid in the region. It recalled that Governors Diri, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta and Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers defected to the APC on the promise of legacy projects such as the coastal highway, and said losing it would erode the goodwill the President enjoys in the South-South. "You cannot seek our votes while taking away our roads," the council said.

The IYC also said it received the Minister's later disclaimer with a pinch of salt, describing it as calculated to calm tempers before the January 2027 presidential election. It noted that his earlier remarks suggested the directive had come from the President himself.

It called on President Tinubu to rein in the Minister and keep the highway on its original corridor through Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States, as approved by the Federal Executive Council. To restore public confidence, it demanded that the Federal Government:

- Publish the approved designs and engineering drawings for the full 750km route.

- Direct the contractor to start work immediately on the Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo axis, alongside the Lagos–Ondo and Cross River–Akwa Ibom sections.

The council added that turning the project into a mere rehabilitation of the East–West Road would confirm fears that it was never meant for the South-South, but was a sham fundraising enterprise.

The IYC stressed that the Ijaw people are peaceful and seek no quarrel with any group, but cautioned that "unguarded statements and ill-advised decisions" on the project could have unintended political consequences.

The statement was signed by the National President, Comr. Dr. Doubra C. Okotete, and the National Secretary, Dr. Ayebakuro Itari Igbeta, Esq.

One thing to check: the original statement refers once to the "January 2026 Presidential election" and elsewhere to January 2027. I used 2027 throughout, so confirm that matches your records before publishing.

Read full statement below:

15TH OCTOBER, 2026

NATIONAL PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE DR. DOUBRA OKOTETE-LED 10TH NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE IJAW YOUTH COUNCIL (IYC) WORLDWIDE ON THE 750KM LAGOS–CALABAR COASTAL HIGHWAY

IJAW NATION WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY FORM OF DIVERSION OF THE COASTAL HIGHWAY TO THE EAST–WEST ROAD!

A CALL ON PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU TO DIRECT THE MINISTER OF WORKS TO STICK TO THE ORIGINAL FEC-APPROVED DESIGN.

Good afternoon, Nigerians, ladies and gentlemen of the press.

The attention of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide has been drawn with shock and utmost displeasure to statements purportedly credited to the Honourable Minister of Works, Engr. David Umahi, suggesting that the ongoing construction of the 750km Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, a flagship project of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration, would now be diverted to the East–West Road from Ondo State, thereby cutting out Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States from the original coastal alignment.

We state here unequivocally that the Ijaw Nation and the entire South-South will not accept the diversion of this all-important project under any guise.

The excuse of financial constraints or difficulty of terrain ascribed to the Minister is insulting, provocative and unacceptable to us.

How can a project be too expensive or its terrain too difficult in the very region that produces over 85% of the nation’s wealth? The South-South produces the oil and gas that funds the entire Federation Account, funds the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, funds the Sokoto–Badagry Highway and funds the Abuja–Kaduna Highway.

We therefore refuse to be shortchanged in this one project that is meant to directly benefit us. Our oil must not be used to develop other regions while our region is told that developing our area is too costly, especially after the road has successfully covered the President’s native South-West region.

We view this attempt to divert the road into the East–West Road as an afterthought initiative to insult and provoke the South-South, and then call us names when we rise to the occasion.

This argument of impossibility collapses in the face of facts. Governors of the South-South states, even with their lean resources, are undertaking monumental projects across the most difficult swamps and rivers.

We make it categorically clear that His Excellency, Donald Duke, the former Governor of Cross River State, dabbled into facts not within his knowledge when he said on national television that the continuation of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway was not feasible and was too expensive.

To ensure that he is availed of the true state of affairs in the South-South, the National Leadership of the IYC is offering the former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, a fully funded and all-expenses-paid trip to Bayelsa State so that he can see for himself what the Governor has achieved and is still doing.

For example, Governor Douye Diri is constructing the Nembe–Brass Road, a 21km road with over 15 bridges across the Atlantic swamps. The Governor is also undertaking the equally challenging Yenagoa–Oporoma–Ukubie Road project, with a 630-metre bridge across the Nun River already completed.

These projects are ongoing simultaneously with the Ekeremor–Agge Road, leading to the proposed Agge Seaport site, all traversing thick mangroves, deep creeks and marshlands.

Within the last six years, the Bayelsa State Governor has also successfully completed the construction of the Polaku–Sabagria Road project, with huge bridges; completely dualised roads in the New Yenagoa City; and the Glory Drive Phases 1, 2 and 3, all through swamps, rivers and erosion-affected terrains.

We will also fund his on-site assessment tour of the very ambitious Trans-Kalabari Road project ongoing in Rivers State, fully funded by the State Government, which is entirely located on the so-called difficult terrain.

Similarly, the IYC would also fund his trip to other parts of the South-South to see for himself what the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is doing. He and other naysayers would see for themselves the massive infrastructural projects in this supposedly difficult terrain.

The NDDC, especially recently under the stewardship of Dr. Samuel Ogbuku, is embarking on highly capital-intensive projects, most of which are roads designed to open up rural coastal communities and link them to urban centres.

Worthy of mention is the Port Harcourt–Okrika Road, consisting of the massive 1.2km Kaa–Ataba Bridge, and the Bonny Ring Road project, another massive 27.1km road with over 13 bridges.

We could also mention the 24km Gbaregolor–Ogolaha legacy road project in Delta State, designed to link over 10 coastal communities. The list goes on, reflecting the fearless undertakings of the Governors of the region and the NDDC despite their limited financial resources.

It therefore bewilders our imagination that the Federal Government could conceive a project, carry out feasibility studies, design it and commence a project of this magnitude, only to wake up with the laughable but provocative argument of difficulty and expense after covering the Lagos Atlantic coast and lagoons and the entire South-West region of the President, as well as the Senate President’s Cross River/Akwa Ibom sections.

If state governments can muster the political will to surmount these challenges, how then can the Federal Government of Nigeria claim that building a coastal highway through the same terrain is impossible?

It is a pointer that what is needed is not engineering, but political will. Perhaps someone intends to toy with the people of Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States, possibly because we do not have enough political big names in the President’s inner circle.

We assure Mr President and his administration that, politically, this diversion, if allowed to see the light of day, is suicidal for the President’s and the ruling party’s re-election bid in the South-South, even as January 2027 draws near.

It is within public knowledge that Governors of the South-South, including His Excellency Senator Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and Sir Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, only defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because of the promise of such people-oriented, legacy initiatives by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government.

These are some of the Governors who enjoyed the massive support of the people in their decisions to defect to the APC on the same grounds that the Coastal Highway and other federal projects would come to the region.

But if the Minister of Works is allowed to follow through with his plan to divert the road from Ondo State and merge it with the already dilapidated East–West Road, then Mr President should be prepared to lose his wide acceptance and goodwill across the entire South-South.

There would be nothing left for us in his administration going forward. You cannot seek our votes while taking away our roads.

The Ijaw people and all other ethnic nationalities of the South-South smell a rat in the comments attributed to the Minister, and we will not take them even as a joke.

We call on His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to address this matter with the urgency it deserves.

Prove to us that PBAT is not just the Asiwaju of Lagos State or the Jagaban of the West, but the President of Nigeria.

We therefore urge Mr President to call the Minister of Works to order and ensure that the highly sensitive Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway is maintained as originally conceived, surveyed and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), prior to the mobilisation of the contractor to site and even thereafter.

The road must follow its original 750km coastal corridor through Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States as designed.

We further wish to make it explicitly clear that the later disclaimer issued by the Minister of Works has been received with a pinch of salt, as calculated deceit contemplated in anticipation of the January 2026 Presidential election.

We therefore refuse to be bound by his empty words, as his earlier statements suggest that the directive to divert the highway had been issued by Mr President himself.

To restore our confidence, the Federal Government must undertake convincing actions, including the release to the public of the approved designs and engineering drawings of the entire 750km Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway.

Also, the contractor should be directed to commence work immediately along the Rivers/Bayelsa/Delta/Edo axis of the road and continue simultaneously with the Lagos–Ondo and Cross River–Akwa Ibom axes.

This way, we can have some confidence that a third statement would not be issued by the Minister immediately following the announcement of the January Presidential election results. Once bitten, twice shy.

The project is already the subject of various controversies regarding its initiation and award processes. We do not wish to dwell on these controversies at this time. However, diverting it now to become a mere rehabilitation of the East–West Road will confirm the fears of many Nigerians that the entire project was never meant for the South-South in the first place, but was merely a sham fundraising enterprise.

In conclusion, we, the Ijaw people, do not seek trouble with anyone or any ethnic group in this country. We are peaceful, hospitable and accommodating. But the Minister of Works should be properly guided in his decisions and utterances on serious national issues of this magnitude.

Unguarded statements and ill-advised decisions on the Coastal Highway may bring unintended consequences that will directly affect the political appeal and acceptance of Mr President and his party in the South-South, particularly as the 2027 general elections fast approach.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Ha Izon!

God bless the South-South.

God bless the Niger Delta.

God bless the Ijaw Nation.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Comr. Dr. Doubra C. Okotete

National President

Dr. Ayebakuro Itari Igbeta, Esq.

National Secretary

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