Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has expressed concerns that the progress of work has stalled on the Umuahia to Enugu section of the railway corridor.

The projects, he said, were scheduled for completion by the first quarter of last year but have remained stalled.

Otti raised the concern during a meeting with the new Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, Kayode Opeifa, and the NRC team.

He expressed confidence that, under the new Managing Director, the trajectory of NRC work would bring the much-needed speed and quality to the railway projects across the nation, especially the South-East corridor.

Governor Otti, who described transportation as a key sector for economic development and national growth, reiterated his administration’s commitment to transforming the transport sector, which includes ongoing efforts to modernize the transport system in the state.

“The speed with which the other parts of the corridor were executed and the speed at which the execution is happening right now are different, but I am sure you’ll change the trajectory very soon,” Otti said.

On concerns raised about the security of NRC assets in Aba, Governor Otti assured that he would look into the issue and provide the necessary support, including logistics, emphasizing that his government does not discriminate between federal and state projects.

Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, Kayode Opeifa, disclosed that the meeting was to deepen discussions and plans on how best to revive the Aba-Umuaahia rail line, adding that their mandate is to ensure that all major cities in the South-East are connected to the national rail line.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency, not on the nation, but on what he describes as a “disastrous presidency.”

Lamenting the escalating insecurity across Nigeria, Atiku criticised President Tinubu for failing to return from his trip to France amid widespread violence and national unrest. He pointed to the renewed killings in Plateau and Benue States, as well as a resurgence of Boko Haram activity, accusing the president of gross negligence and dereliction of duty.

“By the time President Tinubu returns from his latest trip, he would have spent a staggering 59 days in France since assuming office,” Atiku said in a statement issued by his media aide, Paul Ibe.

“At a time when the country is bleeding, and citizens are living in fear, the president is abroad under the guise of a ‘working visit.’ If this announcement had come a day earlier, many Nigerians would have dismissed it as an April Fool’s joke. But this is no prank — it’s yet another insult to a nation in crisis.

Atiku criticized what he called the administration’s attempt to spin the trip as something other than medical tourism, questioning the president’s priorities and use of public funds.

“What kind of leader borrows billions only to squander scarce resources on vanity trips abroad? It’s not just irresponsible — it’s contemptuous,” he added.

The former presidential candidate also highlighted the dire situation on the ground: over 100 lives lost in Plateau, renewed bloodshed in Benue, Boko Haram reclaiming territory, and worsening poverty and insecurity across the country.

“This is no longer just poor leadership. It’s dereliction of duty on a catastrophic scale,” he said. “A leader with empathy and patriotism would cut his trip short and return immediately. Governance is about showing up, especially in times of crisis.”

Atiku argued that the so-called “working visit” could easily have been conducted from Lagos — or even Iragbiji and accused Tinubu of abandoning his country while it teeters on the brink.

“Nigeria is in a full-blown state of emergency. Not the politically manufactured kind declared in Rivers State for partisan gain — this is a national collapse. So the real question is: when will Tinubu declare a state of emergency on his own disastrous presidency?”

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REJOINDER TO STEVE OSUJI’S BILE-FILLED RANT: AN EMBITTERED HACK STRUGGLING TO STAY RELEVANT

By Ambrose Nwaogwugwu, April 17, 2025.

There comes a time when bile masquerading as intellect must be peeled apart, line by line, to reveal the sheer hypocrisy and venom of a jaded penman whose only relevance now resides in throwing tantrums from the gallery of expired influence.

Steve Osuji, yes—you. The same Osuji who served as media aide to the illegally declared governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha, who spent his unconstitutional seven months in office not digging a single shovel of sand anywhere in Imo State, but rather focused on expanding his real estate empire. From Owerri to Mbutu Mbaise, his palatial mansions sprang up like mushrooms after rainfall, while governance was put on hold and the people’s trust squandered. That’s the man you call your political idol. That’s the failure you defended with your mighty pen.

So before you climb your rickety pulpit of sanctimony to preach about infrastructure and governance, cleanse yourself of the stench of complicity in one of the most shameful interruptions of progress in Imo’s history. You, Mr. Osuji, were part and parcel of a media team that elevated propaganda and mediocrity to statecraft. You dined and wined in the belly of that failed “Rebuild Imo” structure called the Ihedioha administration, which left Imo worse than he met it, and only rebuilt his palatial mansions.

Let’s now deal with the folly of your so-called “EXPRESSO Umbrage.”

You claim to be “traumatized” because Governor Hope Uzodinma received the Vanguard Infrastructure Governor of the Year 2024 Award? Good. Stay traumatized. Because what you see today in Imo State is a reflection of true infrastructural rebirth—not the illusion of development your type tried to sell to us with flowery grammar and empty press releases during Ihedioha’s fraudulent reign.

Unlike your master who couldn’t complete a single kilometer of road, Governor Uzodinma has delivered landmark projects across the three zones of the state. These are not federal gimmicks, but tangible state-driven legacies: Owerri-Orlu dual carriageway, Owerri-Okigwe express, Balloon technology drainage systems, Nekede – Ihiagwa road, Chukwuma Nwoha Road, MCC-Toronto Road, Lake Nwaebere project, just to name a few. These are roads your master only “flagged off” on social media before rushing back to Mbutu to continue building mansions.

You question Vanguard’s credibility in awarding Uzodinma? Where was your righteous indignation when Vanguard named your genocidal hero, Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of the Year—not once, but twice? Oh, you praised it then. But today, because your political god is no longer in office, and you can no longer feed fat on government crumbs, Vanguard has suddenly become an unholy altar? Spare us the selective outrage.

And you dare cry about the ruination of Imo State? This same Imo where pensioners now receive their entitlements? Where civil servants enjoy promotions, digitized payroll, and salaries paid promptly? Where tertiary institutions like IMSU and Imo Poly are undergoing reform and expansion? Where the Imo State Teaching Hospital now functions with a renewed focus?

The same Imo where opposition voices exist freely despite your claims of “one-party state”? When your camp was in power, dissent was met with arrests and media clampdowns, but today you scream from your laptop in full freedom—proof of the democracy you claim is dead.

Your tears over Willy Amadi are laughable. A man who has realized the path of development and chosen to be part of progress rather than sulk like you in bitterness is not to be pitied but celebrated. It’s your kind—unrepentant political vampires—who continue to bleed from the loss of political access.

In conclusion, this rejoinder is not for you, Steve Osuji, alone. It’s for all relics of the old order still bitter that a government of substance now occupies Douglas House. Keep crying. Vanguard has spoken. The people of Imo are seeing and testifying. And history will record your tantrums for what they are: the wailings of a disgraced former aide trying desperately to reclaim a relevance long lost.

Steve, Stay traumatized.

– Ambrose Nwaogwugwu is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Imo State on Electronic and Creative Media, wrote from Owerri.