When the former Group Managing Director/CEO of Diamond Bank Plc, Dr. Alex Otti resigned his position to contest for the 2015 governorship of Abia State, many of us thought that an intellectual had come to the contest. But when he started his venoms against the government of Governor Theodore Orji by calling it names, we know that he had nothing to offer.
Otti who was originally from Arochukwu with his state-of-the art building built there ran away from his aboriginal village to claim Ngwa person when he heard that the governorship in the 2015 elections was zoned to the Ukwa/Ngwa area. Nonetheless, Otti was at the same time speaking from the sides of his mouth that the zoning formula had been killed. That was when he wanted to contest from his Arochukwu village. But when he saw that the governor was head bent on that Ukwa/Ngwa must produce the next governor, he shifted gear.
Otti’s initial stand was his warning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the idea of zoning, and he said: “I learnt that you people said you have zoned the governorship to Abia South. No, it is wrong because the national leadership of the PDP had already killed the zoning arrangement in 2011. Remember, that at that time the office of the president was zoned to the North, yet the South is occupying that position today. So, the contest must be thrown open.”
Those clamouring for Otti to succeed the present governor are just doing so based on sentiment. A severe examination of the man called Otti attests that he has dubious gesticulations for power than people know. This is a man who contested the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) primary in a hotel along Aba Road, Umuahia and used faked document to announce himself winner after he was deliberately blindfolded by the so-called Victor Umeh-led national leadership of APGA to the tone of $3m.
While Otti was seeing himself as the winner of the primary election of the party, the true winner emerged in APGA in the person of Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba, who is the only credible candidate in the Abia APGA to contest the governorship election in 2015 with other political parties’ candidates.
With what Otti is causing in the state has shown the man as an unintelligent person, no matter the three doctorate degrees his garrulous campaign team has been hyping that he has. His campaign is issue-baseless and one will not restrain to qualify him as an agent sent by his paymasters to make sure that he deconstructs the government of Governor Orji, which he knows that it will be difficult for him to achieve.
In that highlight, one observer had this to say: The various political parties should come out clean with their various programmes on how to build on that foundation and make the state one of the best. But instead of seeing such discourse, the factional APGA governorship candidate, Alex Otti and his camp… have continued to insult the sensibilities of Abians by making frivolous claims and propaganda that do not hold water or contribute to the uplifting of the political debate. For instance, how can anybody in his rightful senses claim that Governor Orji, who has provided a number of legacy structures that are visible everywhere, has not done anything?
It is pertinent to write that Otti is dead on arrival and his political coffin would be nailed in the 2015 general elections. He knows that he is not heading to anywhere; hence he resorts to throwing stones by saying that the PDP candidate in the state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu was being sponsored by the state government. What Otti did not realize, according to a critic, is that Dr. Ikpeazu, as a bona fide citizen of Abia State, is free to contest any election of his choice, provided he is qualified to run in that election.
However, in the light of that, the Government of Abia State through the sociable Chief Press Secretary to Abia State Governor, Mr. Charles Ajunwa, had described the likes of Umeh and Otti as pathological liars and agents of destruction masquerading as politicians. The question that the governor had asked through Ajunwa is: “Where were Umeh and Otti when His Excellency Governor Theodore Orji through his inspiring doggedness restored sanity and peace in Aba in particular and Abia in general by ending kidnapping which completely brought all activities in the state to a standstill? Where were Umeh and Otti when Governor Theodore Orji started and completed the hitherto impassable Aba/Owerri Road?”
The puzzle continued: “Where were Umeh and Otti when His Excellency started the de-silting of drains in Aba? Where were Umeh and Otti when Governor T.A. Orji constructed the Uruakpa Road in Aba South? Where were they when Governor Orji started and completed the reconstruction of Ukwu Mango section of Faulks Road Aba (1.2km)? Where were Umeh and Otti when Governor Orji started and completed the access road to Geometric Power Plant Aba? Where were they when Governor Orji restored the manhood of Abians? (To borrow the insightful words of Chief Ojo Maduekwe) Just to mention but a few.”
Ajunwa had seen that Otti and his co-travellers were economic with the truth about the government of his boss, because they were jealous of Governor Orji’s laudable and verifiable achievements, which put him ahead of other past leaders of the state. Ajunwa was of the opinion that Governor Orji’s remarkable achievements have won him uncountable awards and laurels from all parts of the world.
He described his boss as one leader who does not believe in propaganda as a tool for governance, rather he believes in hard work and selfless service to humanity. Therefore, it’s evident that Otti who aligns with Umeh to smear Governor Orji cannot be trusted, because as Nigerians knew, Umeh is a man that cannot be trusted, because he is gullible with power.
Umeh’s tenure as APGA’s chairman had expired since 5 years ago, yet Umeh clinched unto the leadership of the party for selfish reasons. This is a man that Otti has embraced. Like father, they say, like son. It then means that Otti can never be trusted.
Hart writes from Lagos
