Loading ...ABUJA, NIGERIA — The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, has declared an all-out media and political war against opposition elements and citizens who use digital content creation to criticize and downplay the infrastructural achievements of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Speaking on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, during an interactive session with newsmen and political stakeholders, the former Ebonyi State Governor made it clear that the administration’s media machinery would no longer tolerate what it perceives as a coordinated campaign to undermine the federal government’s image.
In a highly animated declaration, Umahi warned that the ministry and the presidency are fully prepared to match their critics word-for-word in the public space.
“We Sharpen Our Mouth”
The Minister accused opposition platforms—particularly those sympathetic to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the broader “Obidient” movement—of intentionally constructing negative narratives to overshadow the ongoing nationwide road construction boom.
Rather than backing down from the public friction, Umahi asserted that the administration would adopt a highly aggressive, counter-offensive communication strategy to neutralize its detractors.
“There is a committed effort by some people, building their own content to undermine the great work President Tinubu is doing, but we will not allow it,” Umahi stated emphatically. “We sharpen our mouth, they tackle us, we tackle them. They Obidient us, we Tinubu them, we Asiwaju them.”
The Infrastructure PR War
The minister’s aggressive stance highlights growing frustration within the Ministry of Works over relentless online scrutiny. Over the past several months, citizens and digital creators have frequently posted real-time videos and pictorial evidence showing severe failure points on critical economic arteries, such as the East-West road and the Benin-Auchi corridor.
While the public views these posts as legitimate outcries over collapsed infrastructure, Umahi and his team classify them as weaponized political content aimed at sabotaging the administration’s political capital ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle.
| Administration Strategy | Opposition / Citizen Counter-Action |
| Defensive Mandate | Deploying aggressive rhetorical responses to protect the President’s image. |
| Project Focus | Pushing massive capital layouts like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. |
Escalating Political Friction
Political watchdogs note that Umahi’s use of targeted partisan slogans like “They Obidient us, we Tinubu them” confirms that the Ministry of Works is operating on a dual track—combining engineering oversight with hardcore political shielding for the Presidential Villa.
By openly defining public complaints as a partisan struggle rather than civic feedback, the minister has effectively raised the political stakes. Civil society groups have quickly reacted to the briefing, reminding the Works Minister that citizens possess a constitutional right to demand accountability for bad roads without being branded as political saboteurs.
However, with Umahi vowing to keep his team’s “mouth sharpened” for a prolonged rhetorical battle, the administration appears fully committed to aggressively shutting down opposition narratives as the race toward 2027 intensifies.
