Peter Obi, HURIWA Condemn Second Niger Bridge Vandalism, Say It’s Act of Sabotage
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 polls, Peter Obi and the Human Rights Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), have condemned the vandalisation of the Second Niger Bridge, calling for the arrest of the culprits.
Obi, who was reacting to a video of a man who described how criminals were vandalising the second Niger Bridge, said destruction of critical infrastructure on the bridge was capable of causing grievous harm to commuters.
Obi who posted on his X handle, described vandalism as an act of sabotage that must be condemned.
According to the former governor of Anambra State, “I like to thank immensely the young man, Lord Zeus, driven by patriotism and courage to raise the alarm on the vandalisation of the second Niger bridge.
“The viral video of this good Nigerian copiously points out the senseless criminality and vandalism of our collective assets which is capable of causing grievous harm to members of the public if left unchecked.
“He took time to expose how this critical infrastructure of the 2nd Niger Bridge is being vandalised by criminals, thereby causing harm to road users and constituting a security threat to society.
“I share his concerns and that of many patriots over the constant destruction of public property, including vandalising of railway tracks, cutting up of high voltage cables, stealing of aluminum railings on bridges, and so on.”
He added: “We must condemn these acts of sabotage and criminality in their totality. Now that this critical issue has again, been exposed, I urge the government and security agencies to do a follow-up by investigating deeply and bringing to book the perpetrators of such crimes.”
Obi called on the government, to put in place strict disciplinary measures for those who vandalise public assets
He also called for the installation of reliable surveillance systems, to monitor the security of vital public infrastructure.
In the same manner, HURIWA called on security agencies to shoot vandals at sight seen vandalising the Niger Bridge.
In a statement by the National Coordinator of the group, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the act of vandalising of the newly built second Niger Bridge crisscrossing Delta, through the entire South-east and the rest of the South-south States was the greatest and most treasonous act of coordinated economic sabotage and terrorism which should never be tolerated by all Nigerians.
The group said it supports the proposed declaration by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the armed security services to shoot -on -sight any vandal caught actively vandalising the highly esteemed 2nd Niger bridge.
Onwubiko said that government must mount and operate all-round CCTV in and around this key bridge.
HURIWA stated that the entire 60 million Igbo people worldwide should be rightly enraged that the only feasible and significant physical strategic national asset built by the central government since democracy returned to Nigeria for the benefits of Nigerians travelling through the South East from the South West through Delta/Onitsha: the second Niger Bridge was being destroyed.
