by Solomon Okocha
This matter is too sensitive to be dumped on the alter of alteration, omission, or sheer political manipulation. The N60 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Railway Project is a giant thorn in the flesh of our National Assembly members.
Whether or not this highly important project is finally included in the 2016 budget, the scar of this controversy will take a very long time to heal.
Unfortunately, the victims of this emotional combat, are the South – South and South – East Senators; they have completely lost the trust of their people.
The South-West Senators are nothing but HEROS of the South; the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, will be smiling in his grave this moment – his people are making him proud.
For a brief moment, we can excuse the North – East and North – West Senators, considering the fact that they are primarily representing Northern Nigeria in the Senate, but our brothers shall never go unpunished. They are nothing but traitors to Southern Nigeria.
The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has written his name in gold for by fighting doggedly to include his motherland in the developmental road map of Nigeria, amidst the turbulent aqua of politics. Because of this super man’s courage, a region that was once relegated to backyard politics, has now captured the focus of the whole country.
There is also a group of young patriotic Nigerians, cutting across all regions, who have cemented a bond between themselves as a result of this fiery debate. The Nigerian social media family have resisted any attempt to turn this serious issue into a squabble between the North and South. The northerners and southerners online activists alike, have remained loyal to each other on this very matter. The magnitude of love that has reverberated through blogosphere, remains unimaginable.
Ironically, the few people who fearfully spoke against the Lagos-Calabar Project, are the remaining pockets of the ineffectual gang. Their anger almost blinded their eyes to the realities of the time. To them, anything that concerns the Buhari-led Federal Government, no matter the positive tendencies, must be buried under the ocean of political, religious and ethnic bigotry.
In the end, politicians must realise that issues of national development cannot be played away with selfish power games. An issue as sensitive as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Railway Project, has all the trappings of a ‘social time bomb, waiting patiently to detonate.
Okocha writes from okocha.info@gmail.com.
