Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has vowed that no amount of distractions would stop him from fulfilling the mandate of serving God, President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians

The Minister made the declaration on Saturday at the Enugu/Anambra border while inspecting the level of progress of work along the Enugu-Awka-Obitsha Expressway

Umahi’s comment might not be unconnected with the recent alleged sexual harassment and financial misconduct, linkings the “distractions” to jealousy of his sterling performances and insistence on quality jobs.

He said the matter is already in court, challenging those behind the allegations to be ready to prove their allegations in court

Umahi said, “If you’re paid to insult me on social media, it won’t shut my mouth. I’m not at all distracted. Everyone that knows me knows that I’m David and not afraid of anything.

“Some people have asked me… okay let’s settle, what are we settling? You don’t play something on nothing. If you want to woo me you have to do that properly. This is a very handsome man, with a very good brain. You don’t go by the side looking for me.

“Meanwhile, the matter is in court, whether you insult or praise me, I don’t want to know. All I know, if you allege, you must prove it in court.

“We’re not distracted from our work. We know we’re engaged in a series of wars because contracts are no longer business as usual. We’re not unaware of that.

“So, wherever the fight is coming from, we’re ready. But we won’t bend the standard. We’ll fulfil the callings of God almighty, the people and Mr President.

While expressing satisfaction with the level of progress of work by both contractors handling the project, Umahi urged them to expedite the process to beat the deadline.

“I’m very impressed with the work so far for the quality of work being done here. The first 20km is completed. We just have only 13km, all of concrete that will last the next 100years.

“We've a MTN project which is a total of 104km. Both Niger cat and RCC are doing good jobs. We’ve seen that within the next two weeks, what would be left of the Niger cat section will be zero and that of the RCC is 23km.

“Nobody guarantees asphalt in this country for up to 15yrs. That’s why we’re insisting on concrete. We’ve seen the beauty of the road we’re building across the country.

“We agreed with the contractors that these roads would be completed by April before the rain comes because we don’t want the rain to touch the roads.”

The Minister called the people of Southeast to ensure the reelection of Tinubu so he could continue with the good governance he had extended to the region.

“When I plied this road, driving myself, I have every cause to be bolder and tell our people to vote for Mr President because of the numerous things he has done for us.

“There’s no amount of hate speech or darkening counsel without knowledge that will assuage all the great work the president has done for the region.

“As a governor, there was no single federal government project throughout my 8years and 4-years as deputy governor as well as 4-years as party chairman.

“Now we’re having these projects, we may not be the first, but we’re not the last in the list. The quality of work is enough legacy the president will be remembered for.

“I want my people to stand with Mr President and his renewed hope agenda. Pray for him, appreciate and support him.

“When this road was terrible, our people were on social media saying all kinds of things. Now the road is good, go back to social media and thank him.

“We will all vote for him because what he has done for us is not only visible, but tangible. We’ve been counted and we need to be wise,” Umahi stressed. (The Nation)