A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir Lawal, has described the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road as a big scam.

This was a he accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of failing to work for the people.

The ex-SGF made this statement on Friday, when he featured on ‘Inside Sources with Laolu Akande’, a programme on Channels Television.

“If you ask me, ‘What projects has this government implemented so far that are visible to Nigerians and have impacted their lives?’ I cannot see any. At least in northern Nigeria, where I am a frequent traveller, for example, I don’t see any road that they are constructing or rehabilitating. In the South-West, I don’t think there is any.

“They are still talking about the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which it appears every government talks about and votes money for, and it never goes anywhere. Their so-called coastal road is just a scam. Every Nigerian knows it is a scam. Even before they started, we knew it would be a scam, and it has become a scam,” he said.

OSUNDAILY NG recalls that in May, President Bola Tinubu commissioned the first phase —30km, which stretches from Ahmadu Bello Way to Eleko Village Area in the Lekki Peninsula.

Barely two months after that, the Federal Government secured a $747 million loan to finance the 700km road project, a move that has stirred criticisms from Nigerians, especially opposition figures who accused the Tinubu administration of excessive borrowing without visible results.

Lawal argued that the government has no tangible projects to justify the debts.

He added, “You borrow money from Europe, and before it comes, it is spent over there. So, I don’t understand. What can Nigerians see?

“It has become such that the President can go and commission 30 kilometres of a 700km road — which has even become a source of controversy. So, what are they doing with our money?”

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has dissociated itself from the purported ‘Biafra Government in Exile’ led by self acclaimed Finland-based agitator, Simon Ekpa.

Ekpa is currently facing prosecution in a Finnish court for sponsoring terrorism.

IPOB, in a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful on Thursday in Abuja, described the said Biafra Government in Exile as the the handiwork of mischief makers who do not represent the interest of the movement.

The group, while washing its hands off the purported illegal Biafra government, said it does not endorse or recognize it and would never be part of such a criminal syndicate.

IPOB said based on the ideology of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, it would never descend so low to declare a government in a barbing salon without the consent of the people.

The group said the person behind the purported government in exile lacks discipline and ideology, adding that Biafra is not a plaything for criminals and cowards who find joy in extorting their own people.

The statement read, “The attention of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), under the supreme leadership of Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to an utterly deranged and disgraceful narrative gaining traction among the intellectually bankrupt, in which cowards and charlatans—masquerading from foreign comfort zones as so-called “freedom fighters” —seek to compare Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to a self-proclaimed content creator and certified coward.

“Let us state it categorically: anyone foolish or mentally impaired enough to draw such a comparison needs urgent psychiatric intervention. Comparing the indomitable Mazi Nnamdi Kanu—who has endured extraordinary rendition, solitary confinement, torture and a seven-year political and legal onslaught—to a coward who publicly denied Biafra in open court is the height of lunacy.

“Let the records reflect that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu publicly forbade the following acts, all of which were later carried out by the cowardly fraudster now desperately seeking attention: No Biafran should form a government in exile. No Biafran should form an army or armed group. No Biafran currency should be printed or sold. No Biafra identity card should be created. No Biafran passport should be printed or circulated.

“Yet this Helsinki-based attention-seeker, lacking discipline or ideological clarity, violated every single one of these directives while claiming to “fight” for Biafra. Biafra is not a fantasy. It is not a YouTube show. It is not a plaything for criminals and cowards who find joy in extorting their own people.

“How can any sane person declare a “government” in a barbing salon in Helsinki without the consent of the people? Is this how revolutions are led? Is this what Biafran republicanism has been reduced to?”

IPOB added that the inability of the Nigerian government to sustain any legitimate charge against its leader, despite multiple amendments and desperate media propaganda, was proof that they have a genuine and legitimate cause.

“Let it be known to all that IPOB has nothing to do with the so-called ‘Biafra Government in Exile’. We are not part of that criminal syndicate. We do not endorse or recognize it. We do not kill, extort, or run rackets in the name of Biafra.

“The Kenyan High Court has already declared his abduction unconstitutional. And despite all the torture and manipulation, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains unbroken—because he is fighting a just cause.

“Let the world understand that when the dust settles, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu shall speak again, and the enemies within and without shall be exposed.

“Biafra is not a hustle. Biafra is not for cowards. Biafra is not content for clicks,” the statement added.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, has declared that the opposition coalition under the platform of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, is not a threat to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He made the declaration on Friday at the South-West PDP Caucus meeting held at the party’s South-West zonal secretariat in Ibadan, Oyo state.

OSUNDAILY NG reports that the meeting focused on critical issues affecting the party in the region, especially the urgent need for the Federal Government to release withheld local government allocations for Osun State.

Makinde reaffirmed the South-West Caucus’ loyalty to the PDP.

He went ahead to attack the coalition, noting that it is made up of politicians who were not able to solve Nigeria’s problems in the past.

“We reaffirm our unwavering loyalty to the PDP and commitment to the unity, stability, progress and success of the party at all levels in the zone and across the country,” he said.

According to him, the withholding of funds is not only unconstitutional but also detrimental to the well-being of the people of Osun State.

Makinde said, “The withholding of the Osun State Local government allocation by the Federal Government is unconstitutional, unwarranted and a violation of the rights and well-being of the people of Osun State.

“We want the whole world to know that PDP in the South-West is united; we are together. Coalition is not a threat to the PDP. Who are these people in this coalition? They have been in some parties before, whether PDP or APC. What are their antecedents?”

“And does it mean that every time they move from one party to the other, they have repented or they have changed or they have something new to offer the people? Those are salient questions.

“This building here is PDP’s South-West building. If the roof is leaking, as leaders of PDP in the South-West, are we going to abandon the building and go somewhere else to take refuge?”