Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo has complained that opposition voices in the state are disapproving the achievements made by his administration to score cheap political scores.
The Governor described such action as unproductive, saying it breeds “jaundiced perceptions, campaigns of calumny and discord in society, which can lead to anarchy.”
Soludo, in a statement on Thursday by his Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, gave a warning against what he called a distortion of realities concerning the activities of his administration.
He stated this while reacting to the alleged washing away of a road in Ochanja area of Onitsha by flood after a heavy rain that fell Monday evening.
The governor said that contrary to the viral video footage on social media and as reported by some mainstream news outlets, “nothing like that happened” in his state.
The statement explained that the road in question was still under construction and had not even been completed as reported.
“What transpired was not an exposure of government negligence or incompetence, but rather a proof of the dangers of a single story.
“The road in question was neither poorly constructed, nor has it been commissioned as alleged. It was a case of misinterpretation, fueled by the insidious spread of fake news, because the road is still under ongoing construction.
“In reality, the alleged damage to the road was a mere consequence of inclement rainfall and construction procedures.
“According to professional explanations by both the contracting firm and the Commissioner for Works in Anambra State, what happened was that the construction engineers were laying the last bit of asphalt on the paver when it started to rain on Monday, March 25, 2024, and the base course on which the asphalt was laid was wet.
“When the engineers noticed that the base course was wet, they cut off the portion that was laid on the wet surface and used it to fill the adjoining street, which the mischief-maker’s video captured as part of the roads commissioned.
“The cut-off section of the road was less than 600mm. This cutting of asphalt laid on wet surfaces is in line with industry best practices and also shows compliance with international standards in road construction. Besides, it is crucial to state that the flood occasioned by the downpour and the flooding from the blocked culvert did not affect the road pavement as laid,” the statement noted.
The Anambra State governor further alleged that the trending video deliberately included misleading footage of a different, already existing road that was not under construction, saying, “Yet, unsuspecting Nigerians online saw the video and typically started rambling, “See the road Soludo just commissioned.” What a mob of ignoramuses and fake news traffickers fills cyberspace!” Aburime queried.
He lamented further that some mainstream media organisations also carried the video without verification.
Governor Soludo advised citizens of the state to verify any information before believing it and, also appealed to newsmen to always investigate any information before publishing it.
Meanwhile, some residents of the area have staged a protest against the information, saying that no road constructed in their area by the Soludo-led administration was washed away by a flood.
For instance, a group of placard-carrying market men and women in Ochanja area, along with some residents, have staged a protest eulogising the quality of the road being constructed by the governor in the area.
Spokesman of the group, Chief Okwudili Obinwanne during the protest on Wednesday, condemned the “antics of some desperate politicians who he accused of sparing no effort in an attempt to discredit the good work that Governor Soludo is doing in Ochanja, Onitsha and Anambra State as a whole.”