A faction of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, has known as on the Nationwide Meeting to start impeachment proceedings towards President Bola Tinubu over an alleged battle of curiosity within the award of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Freeway contract.

The chief of the group, Oba Oladipo Olaitan, in an interview with newsmen, condemned Tinubu’s latest public declaration that the contractor dealing with the venture, Gilbert Chagoury, was his companion through the inauguration of the 30-kilometre Section 1, Part 1 of the coastal freeway venture.

President Tinubu, whereas inaugurating the venture final Saturday, praised the Chagoury-led Hitech Building Firm for its work on the highway, which he described as a “image of braveness and dedication.”

“To the contractors and my companion in daring, it was robust for us… We got here collectively to tame the Atlantic,” Tinubu stated.

The freeway is being executed by Hitech Building, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which additionally spearheads the Eko Atlantic Metropolis venture, an formidable actual property growth constructed on reclaimed land from the Atlantic Ocean.

Commenting on Tinubu’s assertion, Oba Olaitan expressed disappointment at what he described as a blatant admission of battle of curiosity, stating that the highway was awarded with out aggressive bidding and appeared tailor-made to profit the privately owned Eko Atlantic Metropolis.

“All President Tinubu is doing is constructing a highway to his personal Atlantic Metropolis. He brazenly stated the contractor is his companion. Which means he awarded a federal contract to himself.

“That highway was not marketed for public bidding. It’s a nationwide disgrace. If we had a really unbiased and vibrant Nationwide Meeting, they might have begun impeachment proceedings instantly.”

He additionally questioned the rationale behind commissioning only a small portion of the freeway, suggesting the federal government might don’t have any additional intention of pursuing the total stretch as soon as the half resulting in Atlantic Metropolis is finished.

“Why fee simply 4 per cent of the highway? That highway leads straight to their non-public growth. If that half is finished, they could abandon the remaining. It is a clear battle of curiosity,” the Afenifere chief insisted.

Calling on lawmakers to take motion, Olaitan stated, “The Nationwide Meeting should show that it’s not complicit. If they’re really unbiased, they have to act now. We can not condone this. This isn’t easy methods to run a democracy. The president has admitted to a breach of public belief.

“I’m calling on the Nationwide Meeting to start out the impeachment course of now if they’re a really unbiased and vibrant Nationwide Meeting and if they aren’t equally complicit. We will’t condone such a factor.”

Reacting, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress stated the decision for Tinubu’s impeachment lacked substance and was “a joke taken too far.”

Talking in an interview on Friday, Lagos APC spokesperson Seye Oladejo described the allegation as a deliberate misinterpretation of the President’s feedback.

“I’ll simply regard that as a joke taken too far. Possibly they should seek the advice of their dictionary to grasp what ‘companion’ means. Did he say enterprise companion? He didn’t say they’ve any relationship or any included agency the place they each have shares. He known as them ‘companions in daring’; individuals who believed in his imaginative and prescient and joined in pursuing it,” he stated.

Oladejo added there was no foundation for linking the remarks to a enterprise association, saying due course of was adopted in awarding the contract.

“Related authorities dealt with the contract course of. If there’s any challenge, it must be addressed by way of the suitable channels, not by way of requires impeachment,” he added.