Former senator Ben Murray-Bruce has claimed that former Go River State Governor and Peoples Redemption Party presidential candidate for the 2027 Nigeria normal election, Donald Duke, prior to now praised the imaginative and prescient in the back of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway.
He challenged Mr Duke to reconcile the alleged endorsement along with his contemporary complaint of the undertaking.
Mr Murray-Bruce made the declare in a Fb submit on Friday, addressing Mr Duke without delay and recalling an previous shuttle they allegedly made in combination alongside the beach the place the freeway is being built.
To strengthen his account, Mr Murray-Bruce connected {a photograph} that looks to turn each males status on a coastal highway. Alternatively, the {photograph} does now not independently turn out when or the place it used to be taken, or what Mr Duke stated concerning the undertaking on the time.
“Some years in the past, you and I travelled alongside the stretch of the beach the place this highway now runs, and I obviously have in mind your reward for the imaginative and prescient in the back of it. For this reason your contemporary feedback shocked me,” Mr Murray-Bruce wrote.
He stated that the freeway used to be pricey however insisted that the fee must be weighed towards its possible long-term advantages.
“Nice countries are constructed via leaders prepared to make daring, pricey investments that may serve generations but unborn,” he stated.
Mr Murray-Bruce additionally defended President Bola Tinubu’s dedication to financing the undertaking, insisting that there used to be no investment shortfall and that building used to be progressing.
He described the paintings as global same old, aligning himself with Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, who defended the freeway towards Mr Duke’s complaint.
“When Governor Douye Diri recommended the street, he used to be now not talking as an area champion; he used to be talking as a statesman who recognises infrastructure of global same old when he sees it. I accept as true with him utterly,” Mr Murray-Bruce stated.
Mr Duke had questioned the undertaking’s price and feasibility, elevating considerations concerning the proposed direction via Bayelsa State’s swampy terrain and whether or not the rustic may come up with the money for such a pricey endeavor.
His complaint triggered Mr Diri to defend the undertaking, and then Mr Duke described the governor as a “native champion”, arguing that his review didn’t imagine Nigeria’s monetary constraints and competing building priorities sufficiently.
Mr Murray-Bruce, alternatively, urged that Mr Duke’s complaint used to be influenced via his reported ambition to contest the 2027 presidential election.
“Donald, I take into account that you’re operating for president, and that your remark is political. That’s the nature of the season, and I appreciate your proper to make your case to Nigerians,” he wrote.
“However we should watch out by no means to undermine a undertaking of nationwide significance, or the President turning in it, merely for political merit.”
He when compared the freeway to the US’ moon-landing programme, announcing pricey initiatives can ship lasting advantages to long run generations.
“When mankind went to the moon, it used to be neither affordable nor loose. Nevertheless it used to be essential. So is that this highway,” he stated.
Duke but to reply
PREMIUM TIMES made a number of phone calls to Mr Duke on Friday afternoon to hunt his response to Mr Murray-Bruce’s declare that he had prior to now praised the undertaking, however he didn’t solution.
The newspaper additionally despatched a media enquiry via textual content message, WhatsApp and Fb Messenger, asking whether or not Mr Duke had prior to now visited and recommended any stretch of the freeway and in search of his reaction to the allegation that his complaint used to be politically motivated. He had now not spoke back as of the time of submitting this record.
The alternate additionally comes towards the backdrop of Mr Murray-Bruce’s open make stronger for Mr Tinubu’s re-election bid.
The previous Bayelsa East senator defected from the PDP to the ruling APC in October 2025 and later stated he would vote for Mr Tinubu in 2027, mentioning self belief within the president’s reforms.
Mr Murray-Bruce, who hails from Akassa in Bayelsa State, represented Bayelsa East within the Senate from 2015 to 2019. His defence of the coastal freeway aligns him with Mr Diri, the Bayelsa governor, who has additionally defended the undertaking towards Mr Duke’s complaint.
The alternate provides a brand new measurement to the talk over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway, moving consideration past its price and engineering feasibility as to if Mr Duke’s present place differs from his alleged previous review.
Mr Murray-Bruce’s account of the sooner talk over with and the cases surrounding the {photograph} may now not be independently verified via PREMIUM TIMES as of the time of submitting this record.
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