Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, says no harm was done to Landmark Group properties during the construction of the 30-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Speaking at the official inauguration of the initial segment of the 750km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway over the weekend, Umahi said the federal government’s decision to proceed with the declaration of that stretch of the road was systematically carried out with the full protection of Landmark properties.

”Mr President, I want to state that we did not harm Landmark properties,” begins Umahi

“What went off was their encroachment on our front shoreline, and the Supreme Court ruled that 250 metres from the shoreline belongs to the federal government. We didn’t do anything wrong.”, “Why is the FIRS chairman not going after them for tax? You have to go after them, ” he said.

Umahi asserted that the dual carriageway is divided into two as directed by President Bola Tinubu to save as much infrastructure as possible, even though the gazetted route was violated.

The minister added that the highway was aligned with federal legal rights over coastal land. Umahi also questioned the Landmark Group’s reported $250 million investment in the contested land and called on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate potential tax issues.

Taking a jab at Landmark’s public campaign against the project, Umahi stated clearly that he remains unperturbed by such campaign of calumny against the project, adding that the presidential support he is getting has given him the much-needed hunger to finish the project.

“The woman is making me very popular going to America, going to Canada — and I elected to give her money to go to London — because we do not care. We have Mr. President who has our back, and we are moving forward.”

“They didn’t know that we videoed the existing route, and no single structure was there,” Umahi added