How to Unseat Alex Otti

By Okey Ikechukwu

The word of advice to those who are “Threatening” to unseat Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State today: “Please, show Abia people all the great wonders you performed during your tenure in public office. While at it, also explain to them how and why you, or your proxies, should be allowed to re-enact this wonder, or these several wonders” when they replace Alex Otti. That is all.

If you can show how you completely outshone Otti’s efforts so far, you can rest assured that the man will be chased out of office and be replaced by one of you, or your chosen candidate, for 2027.

Our people say that the difference between a leopard and domestic cat is not just in the length and size of their whiskers, but in their essence. One is a leopard. The other is a cat. It is as simple as that.

A cat, often designated domestic cat in cities and human settlements, is also a hunter like a leopard. But it hunts for rodents and sundry creatures that are very far down the line even in the cadre of prey, including insects. A leopard ignores certain types of prey, because they are not on its menu.

Our people also say that a toad which, mistaking itself for a bird, ventures into the air will come down with a resounding thud; looking silly and ridiculous. Let me not say anything here about what would happen to a local hunting dog which, having been named “lion” by strangers outside, suffers an identity crisis and struts into the forest to challenge a real lion to a showdown.

First, it will become the lion’s lunch. Second, the lion will be wondering, but it will leave the lion wondering, after a meal that served itself to him, why the poor creature decided to join its ancestors before its time.

I deliver these proverbs against the background of the earlier-mentioned political melodrama that is threatening to play itself out in Abia State. In that regard I add this: A green snake in the garden may think that it is a dangerous Anaconda, just because it crawls, slithers around on its belly and eats by swallowing; like the phenomenal Anaconda. But an Anaconda is an Anaconda.

The recent public statements by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North) and Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, in collaboration with some other former political leaders, about a political alliance designed to get rid of Alex Otti with a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 is the issue on the table here.

Their group is called The Team. Further to their desire to unseat the governor, and further the interests of APC in Abia, they are thinking of taking legal action against the governor for running Abia from his Nvosi country home instead of the Government House.

This is a particularly good move. All they need to do is sue the governor, show the court a direct connection between living Government House and truly serving the people and use their tenures in office to prove it. And Otti will be gone for good. Utterbunkum!

They are planning to expand the group and include all former political office holders during the time the arrowheads of The Team were in office. Some of the resolutions of this new group came in the form of a communique issued in Umuahia at the end of The Team’s second meeting.

My initial concern after reading the communiqué was to wonder about the likely effect of a communiqué signed by former Senator Orji Uzor Kalu as chairman, Senator Theodore Orji as First Vice Chairman, and former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu as Second Vice Chairman would have on the people of Abia State. Especially a communiqué announcing a Technical Committee that needs legs on the ground, with Otti as governor.

Governor, Alex Otti, has reacted by warning that no individual or group should try to distract his administration with shenanigans about 2027 elections. “I am focused on delivering development and good governance to my people. I am not bothered about 2027. The same God who settled 2023 will also settle 2027. So, when they make noise, like I said last week, we should not be bothered. We should just remain focused and do what we have to do,” he said.

He once said to a group: “As you can see, we are at the final stages of dualisng this road. It is a Federal road, but we got approval from the Federal government to reconstruct and dualise it. And as we are doing this, we are also working from Onuimo to Tower. The idea is that any time you get into Abia State, you know you’ve gotten into Abia State.”

On the substantive issue of removing this man from office in 2027, and the possibility of it, the question for me is that three former governors who did not apologize to the people for poor leadership, abandoned roads and sundry signs of neglect, are planning to remove a busy governor who is apologizing to the same people where development projects are going on: “…for dust caused by ongoing road works”.

The question for many others is: “Are some people not seeing that Governor Otti’s achievements across the state are enough to guarantee him a second term in office, especially given his statesmanlike and informed leadership? Apparently, they are hoping to reverse the growing impression that Otti has outperformed all of them put together.

A man who has not, at any point in time made public statements, or urged his aides to make statements, disparaging his predecessors? A man whose performance in office is his own megaphone and propagandist is being accused of being responsible for profiles people created for themselves?

I know Umuahia and I know Abia State. I was born at Queen Elizabeth Specialist Hospital in Umuahia, sixty something years ago. The then St Michael’s primary school knew me. So did Ohuhu Secondary School. We went by foot, all the way from Umuagu, past Umudiawa, Amaogwugwu, Nkatalike, etc. to visit Dr. M. I. Okpara when he returned from Exile. He shook our hands, one after the other, and took time to tell us how the name “Umuahia” came into being after the arrival of the white man.

I served Mass in St Finbarr’s Catholic Church, was part of the Boys Scout Movement and the Block Rosary Crusade.

Umuahia has always been one of the best planned cities, in terms of overall layout and roads, I have seen anywhere. The exceptionally good quality roads in the state capital were built during the tenure of Chief Sam Mbakwe. Orji kalu did not need to fill a single pothole in Umuahia throughout his tenure. Ditto for his two immediate successors.

In fact, let us dwell a little on the construction of roads in Umuahia back then. The original contractors were Benton Construction Company. They ground the town to a halt. Damaged pipes were not replaced in many places, especially the New Lay out and “over rail” parts of town. For more than two months we could only access the house via a makeshift wooden platform, while my father’s car was parked at a school not too far from the house.

My father had to write the Urban Council and the State Government about the condition of the roads and environment, asking that the road be fixed or the residents be provided with water transportation services in the middle of the town.

The contract was eventually revoked and Fougeroulle, a German company, took over. First they cleaned up the soggy, waterlogged topsoil created by Benton. Then they dropped tons of laterite. Next came some kind of stone dust. Then granite chippings, before a nylon tar bit bitumen of not less than four inches. Mbakwe built “Trunk A” roads.

The evidence is still there in places like Azikiwe Road, Macaulay Street, School Road and several places. Largely the same roads built by Mbakwe during the tenures of those who are now lamenting. And that is why I find the lamentations of men who lived with the insanely unmototorable Arochukwu Road, and the ostensible reasons for their desire to remove Otti, totally incomprehensible.

Alex Otti was already a fully accomplished professional in the finance sector, with undeniable evidence of value addition wherever he stepped foot. He made Diamond Bank something out of the ordinary. Those who simply couldn’t match his level of competence saw to the death of the bank after he left.

Question: Would Diamond Bank be Access Bank today if Alex Otti was there when the undertakers came calling? I think not.

The man built a strong reputation as a seasoned economist, banker, and reform-minded administrator. He advocated transparency, efficiency, and professionalism in both private and public sectors. Since assuming office as Governor of Abia State in 2023, Otti has focused on restoring confidence in government; with greater financial transparency and accountability in state finances.

Not only has he reduced waste and emphasized prudent management of public resources, he has promoted a results-driven approach to governance, initiated and rehabilitated key roads, especially in Aba and other urban centers, to boost economic activity. The improved environmental sanitation and urban renewal efforts under his watch is a far cry from the indignity Abia people had to suffer before he took over.

His Civil Service and Institutional Reforms seek to create a more “service aware” Workforce, such efficiency and professionalism would be the hallmark of service delivery in the state. making the civil service more efficient and professional. Merit, discipline, and cost efficiency are being deployed to rebuild trust between government and public servants in Otti’s Abia State.

The deliberate focus on reviving Aba as a commercial and industrial hub, the support for small and medium enterprises, traders, and artisans, as well as the encouragement being given to private sector participation and investment in the state economy are things no one would have easily imagined possible. But look at “my state” today!

Otti’s approach is one that could not have done anything but build Public Trust. He is known for a calm, technocratic, and issue-based approach to issues. He has always gained recognition for accessibility and commitment to whatever he believes to be right. A man who, in Abia today, represents a shift toward competence-driven leadership in nation that has more than it’s fair share of ne’r-do-wells in public office.

Just look at what Otti is doing in education alone!

Those trying to undermine him are trying to bring down an Iroko tree by scratching it with their fingernails. His achievements, reflect a leadership that is based on competence, personal dignity, transparency, and unpretentious service to the people. His career before going into politics shows that when experience, integrity, and vision come together, governance can truly make a difference.

Hapu nu Ndi Apari!