The video of a shoddy road construction project in Lawani Street, Igarra, headquarters of Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, which went viral over the weekend, is setting nerves on the edge in the agrarian community as politicians are making political gains out of the video.
Shot by a native of Igarra, Alabi Lawal, the video depicts the construction of a road in the locality, sad to have been attracted to the area by the member representing Akoko Edo Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Peter Akpatason, as a constituency project in Tue community.
Lawani, who had in the video, complained about the shoddy nature of the job and shared the same on social media, where it had gone viral since on Sunday, on Tuesday, alleged threat to life on his Facebook page but insisted that he shot the video to help his community.
“I understand that the video I did that went viral will definitely put my life at high risk but again someone must be a sacrificial lamb for the good of all if God so pleases,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.
Lawal insisted: “I had no bad intentions against anyone when I did the video. But in the last 48 hours, I have received calls that poses threat to my life.”
In the video, Lawani who is a civil engineer complained that there was no stone base before asphalting the road which made it susceptible to easy damage.
The deputy governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu, and other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the local government area held an emergency rally in the locality on Tuesday, where he said the state government would take over the construction of the road.
But in his reaction, Akpatason who is the House of Representatives Deputy Leader said the viral video was intended to malign and discredit his reputation and that it was a complete falsehood aimed to hoodwink the people for political reasons.
He said: “That job was awarded by the Department of Rural Development by the Ministry of Agriculture to a contractor and was given a clean bill of quantity. The boy in question in the viral video showed two major portions, one the road where you have drainage leading to a slope, that portion is not part of the job.
“His community people pleaded with him (the contractor) to do that portion for them don’t forget that that portion is not in the bill of quantity,” Akpatason explained.
Akpatason had also in a letter to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development dated July 5, 2021 drew the attention of the agency to the video and called for an investigation.
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