Diri rejects merging coastal highway with East-West Road, calls Duke a jester

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has pushed back against plans to realign the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway with the East-West Road, saying the two are separate projects and the coastal road must go on.

Diri spoke at the Government House in Yenagoa during the 200th session of the state executive council, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah.

He said he raised the matter privately with the Minister of Works, David Umahi. "Honourable Minister, that is a no, no, no for us. These are two different projects," Diri quoted himself as telling Umahi.

The governor said he agreed the East-West Road should be reconstructed, but that this should not replace the coastal highway. He said Umahi kept mentioning President Bola Tinubu during their conversation, and he asked the minister to carry his message back to the President.

Diri said he was speaking as chairman of the South-South Governors' Forum, and that the region's governors back the coastal road and oppose the realignment.

Diri and Duke trade words

The governor was sharper still on Donald Duke, a former Cross River governor and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). Diri said he watched a television clip in which Duke argued the coastal road was not feasible because Bayelsa is a swamp, and that building it through the state would require 100 to 200 bridges.

Diri called Duke "a jester and a pretender" and said the PRP has no councillor in Cross River, not even in Duke's own ward. He also accused Duke of leaving debts in Cross River, citing the Tinapa project, and said Duke did nothing when the Bakassi Peninsula was ceded to Cameroon while he was governor.

Duke had reportedly referred to Diri as "that fellow." Diri responded: "I am not that fellow. I am an elected, sitting governor of Bayelsa State."

The governor said he took the remarks personally because they touched his state and its people. He said his government is building roads and bridges in the same swamp Duke described as unbuildable, and invited Duke to visit Bayelsa.

"Enough of this narrative that the Bayelsa environment cannot be developed," Diri said, adding that the same swamps produce the oil that funds the country.

He thanked President Tinubu for the coastal highway, saying it matters greatly to the Niger Delta and the Ijaw nation, and that the Ijaw National Congress had long demanded such a road.

What happens next

The sources do not say whether the Federal Government has changed its plan for the highway or responded to Diri's position. The disagreement between the Bayelsa governor and the Works Minister now sits in public view, with the South-South governors' forum said to be behind Diri.