Odumeje Slams Tinubu Govt Over Celebration of Rehabilitated Niger Bridge

The General Overseer of Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry, Chukwuemeka Cyril Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje, has criticised the Federal Government for celebrating the rehabilitation of the First Niger Bridge linking Onitsha in Anambra State with Asaba in Delta State.

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Odumeje, in a video shared on X, questioned why the government was presenting the rehabilitation of the decades-old bridge as though it were a newly constructed project. He argued that maintaining existing infrastructure should not be portrayed as the construction of a new facility.

The cleric particularly reacted to comments by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, that the bridge would be decorated with pictures of President Bola Tinubu upon completion. Odumeje said the development amounted to celebrating the repainting or rehabilitation of an old facility rather than delivering a new infrastructure project.

“If I see any of you at Onitsha Head Bridge celebrating that you maintained a 1950s bridge for the South-East, Holy Ghost will kill you there. This country has no conscience,” he said.

Odumeje added: “If you see the way the government is showing this bridge everywhere on the internet, you will think it is a newly constructed bridge, without knowing that it is a bridge built years ago. Imagine someone celebrating his car that he parked for over 50 years after repainting it.”

The First Niger Bridge, an important transport link between the South-East and other parts of Nigeria, has undergone major rehabilitation and maintenance works over the years. Odumeje’s comments have therefore raised questions about how governments communicate infrastructure rehabilitation projects and the expectations of citizens regarding new infrastructure.