USAfrica: Alex Otti is the redemption Abia State needs. By Nkem Ekeopara

Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.

Nkem Ekeopara is a contributing editor of USAfricaonline.com

Dr. Alex Otti is the Labour Party’s Abia State candidate for the gubernatorial election, scheduled to hold on March 11, 2023. Let me recall that Dr. Otti ran for this office in 2015. Then, he contested on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). APGA was led in 2003, by the late former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Ojukwu ran for president of Nigeria that year, 2003, on the party’s platform.

In Otti’s first attempt to lead Abia State, he was seen by most people of Abia State, and other Nigerians who closely monitored the election as the winner. That election was held on April 11, 2015.

However, his opponent, the current governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Otti sought relief from the Court of Appeal. And on December 31 that year, an Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State, declared him as the rightful winner. Abia was agog with wild and wide jubilation on the Appeal Court ruling, especially in the commercial capital of the state, Aba. They saw it as a New Year gift that will be ushered in a couple of hours after the ruling. This was so because Abia had been serially misgoverned by treasury looters for 16 years before the Appeal Court pronouncement. Lovers of democracy across Nigeria hailed the ruling. Abia is an oil-producing state. Yet, it is adjudged as the least developed in the Southeast region of Nigeria.

Predictably, Ikpeazu headed to the Supreme Court. And on February 3, 2016, Nigeria’s apex court quashed the Appeal Court ruling, which affirmed Alex Otti as the duly elected governor of Abia State. Ikpeazu was strangely declared the winner of the election. This was a decision most people of Abia State and many Nigerians considered as uneven-handed justice, especially as the Supreme Court did not provide any reason(s) for their judgement. Unlike the day the Appeal Court pronounced Otti as winner, Abia State was like a graveyard. Ordinary folks whose expectation of the dawn of a new era was made real by the Appeal Court ruling, were visibly angry and disappointed.

Archetypal of the Igbo, the people of Abia State remained calm, peaceful and law-abiding. They went about their businesses in their usual steadfastness, keeping hope alive. They believed that in 2019, Otti will recontest for the position. Sure, he did! And his bid for the Government House of Abia State (By the way, till date, the Government House of Abia State remains a rented property since the state’s creation on August 27, 1991, with Umuahia as the capital, by the Ibrahim Babangida’s regime) was unsuccessful.

So, this is the third time Dr. Alex Otti is offering himself for service to his people.

It is important that one notes why Oti running for Abia State House in 2015 on the ticket of APGA was the party to beat. It could be safely said that the stellar performance of Peter Obi in Anambra State, who is now the presidential candidate of LP, and the popularity of APGA, then, because of its association with Ojukwu, had earlier paved way for Mr. Rochas Okorocha to be elected in 2011 as Governor of Imo State.

As we all know, Okorocha squandered that opportunity. Imo people had expected that he will equal or surpass Obi’s record in Anambra. Okorocha became one of the worst things that ever happened to the people of Imo State since it was created on February 3, 1976.

Imo State is an oil-producing state. Many people from Imo State, who were sincere to themselves marveled at the pace of development in Anambra State under Obi. The State was not an oil-producing state until the twilight of his administration. I think it will be uncharitable not to observe here that because of the methodical and integrated approach to development in Anambra by Obi, the state did become a beautiful bride of development agencies. Indeed, Anambra was the only state in the Southeast that was set to attain some of the millennium development goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Under Obi, Anambra became the first in education in Nigeria. Obi collaborated with the Missions whose schools were forcefully seized by rtd. General Yakubu Gowon (Gowon ruled Nigeria from 1966-1976) at the “end” of the Nigeria-Biafra War. Younger generations should know why Gowon took this decision. He took that erroneous decision because according to him, churches helped the Biafran Government to prolong the war. And that help was medical aids and food that church organizations brought into Biafra to address the inhuman sufferings and starvation of its people, especially children and the aged, occasioned by his total blockade policy of the territory.

In fact, this is the origin of the rot in the education sector. It is where “the rain started to beat us”. Obi as governor of Anambra State was not only wise and bold enough to return schools to the Missions, but also returned hospitals to them. The delivery of quality healthcare could be felt by its citizens when they visited the hospitals. He supported them with grants. This collaboration led to the regeneration of education and healthcare in the state. Also, he encouraged its students who made First Class with a gift of one million naira.

Obi created the enabling environment to attract investors. He constructed durable network of roads, connecting several parts of the state, especially the rural farming communities to enable them bring out their produce to the cities. The benefit of this was that the rural poor were empowered to have the opportunity to monetize their produce that used to rot away in their local communities. Under Obi, Anambra State had the lowest poverty level in Nigeria. Obi took care of the senior citizens by promptly paying them their gratuities and pensions.

Also, Peter Obi as the governor of Anambra State, posted a matchless feat in the equalization of opportunities for the female and male genders. And the female genders he appointed into positions of trust didn’t disappointed him. He didn’t neglect the traditional rulers, the security agencies and the disabled. He made sure everyone got what he needed to give his/her best and live in dignity. Not done, he left huge sums of money in various currencies and income-yielding ventures. That, surely, is not in the character of the Nigerian politicians. He was exceptional!

So, in 2011, Mr. Okorocha rode on the popularity of Ojukwu and the performance of Obi in Anambra to win Imo State governorship election, literally. Imo people had high hopes that he would follow the footsteps of Obi and embark on integrated, useful and durable projects. They had hope that he would complete ongoing works such as the strategic ring roads conceived and started by Dee Sam Mbakwe, PhD, the highly venerated first civilian Governor of the state. The construction of one of these roads was restarted by Okorocha’s predecessor, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim.

Regrettably, they were disappointed. Okorocha rewarded them with substandard projects. The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) vociferously condemned him at the time for not involving Engineers and other relevant professionals in execution of projects. Also, the then Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Provence now retired, Amarachi A.J.V. Obinna said what was happening in Imo State under Governor Okorocha was “cosmetic development”. Imo people and those that monitored the collation of the gubernatorial results and its final declaration will remember that the revered Archbishop kept vigil at INEC headquarters to ensure that the mandate the people of Imo State gave to Okorocha was not stolen.

Indeed, under Rochas, Imo was governed on impulse. There was no blueprint. There was no due process in what was going on. Imo and Abia, then, needed men who understand the place of ideas and planning in governance and sustainable development. That was what made Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho, and Dr. Alex Otti in Imo and Abia, respectively, to throw in their hats in the political ring in 2015, using APGA as their route. They were on a redemption mission.

They placed on the political chessboard; character, competence, experience and antecedence they would have used to equal or exceed Peter Obi’s exemplary record in Anambra State. This was not to be in spite of the manifest support of the citizens of the two states for them. They failed to prevail, because of rampant electoral malfeasance and a compromised judiciary that attended the election in 2015. In any case, Okorocha moved from APGA to the ruling party at the national level, the All Progressives Congress (APC). He undeservedly won a second tenure.

Emmanuel Iheanacho is a London trained retired Navy Merchant Captain and the Executive Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas Limited. After the Nigerian Senate with David Mark, a ret. Brigadier General as its President passed the “Doctrine of Necessity” in 2010 that made the then, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan Acting President, following the prolonged absence of President Umaru Musa Yar’dua on health issues, Capt. Iheanacho was appointed Minister of Interior. Otti is a distinguished banker, who earned outstanding academic laurels before his foray into banking and financial services. He rose to become the Managing Director of the former Diamond Bank.

So, in the case of Abia, which like Imo is an oil-producing State, the state has been serially misgoverned for 16 unbroken years as at 2015 as I have noted earlier. There is nowhere this is very visible than Aba, which used to be the Centre of Igbo ingenuity, enterprise and the pride of every Igbo. This was the reason why Ojukwu demanded that his remains should be taken there before his interment. It is where Abia needed Dr. Otti then, and even more, now. He is needed to use his financial intelligence to restore Abia and reposition it for direct foreign investment (FDI) and to encourage local investors by incentivizing them and providing them with the enabling environment to thrive. I believe that Alex Oti will change the fortunes of Abia the same way he repositioned Diamond Bank for efficiency, profitability and growth.

If you add the 8 years of directionless and self-serving tenure of Dr. Ikpeazu, then, Abia has been serially (I use the word serially, deliberately) misgoverned by treasury looters of its commonwealth for 24 years. Come March eleven, 2023, the Abia people have no better alternative than Otti.
In December, senior citizens of Abia State protested, because according to them, and what was written on the placards some of them were carrying, they are being owed over 45 months of pension. They said they’re currently being paid a quarter of their pension every month. They vehemently said they were opposed to the PDP candidate that Okezie is backing to succeed him. In a headline of November 4, 2022, Tribune Online screamed: “Ikpeazu owes 117 months’ salary, 30 months’ pension to Abia workers and pensioners” – NLC.

A careful reading of the story will acquaint one with the details of what Ikpeazu owes various segments of Abia workforce in various institutions in the state and pensioners. These details were provided by no less a person than Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President. He threatened to deploy the powers of trade unionism to bring succor to their members in Abia State.

Scandalously, Abia Polytechnic, and Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) have lost accreditation from the relevant agencies responsible for monitoring standards in those institutions.

In civilized climes, Ikpeazu should not be running for the Senate of their country as he is doing, presently. Instead, he would be ashamed of his eight years reign as Abia’s helmsman without any verifiable positive impact on the citizenry.

Abia needs redemption. And it is urgent. That redemption can be found in the caliber of a man that Peter Obi’s party, the LP, has presented to them; Dr. Alex Otti. Otti has actualized himself in his profession. He has through hard work, honesty and humility gotten to the peak of his profession. Now, he is ready to offer result-oriented leadership. He has transformative leadership credentials that are authenticated by his antecedents. Abia electorates should cast aside, which zone Dr. Otti comes from in their state. They should vote for him, if they need good governance and remarkable development that have eluded them since 1999.

The job of Abia electorates have been made easier by the unfortunate death of Prof. Eleazar Uche Ikonne on January 25, 2023. Late ikonne, a former Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU) was the PDP flag bearer for the March 11, 2023 election. The late Prof. Ikonne was seen as the stooge Ikpeazu picked to succeed him; this is a view with credence if one considers the controversy surrounding the primary that produced him. He was the one the protesting senior citizens said should not be voted for.

Yesterday, Saturday, February 4, 2023, Okey Ahaiwe was elected as the new PDP gubernatorial candidate for March 11, 23 election. Ahaiwe has been serving Dr. Ikpeazu as Chief of Staff since he was elected as governor in 2015. The party was able to beat the 14-day window INEC gave it to replace their departed former ticket holder.

Whether this development will have any impact on the cult following of Peter Obi and those who share his vision of leadership like Otti, remains to be seen.

The Abia people have been badly governed for nearly 24 years, now. For a lot of people, I sought their opinion on this, they agree on this obvious truth. And these include people, who are not from Abia State.

In the thinking of many of them, they believe that the people of Abia State have been given another opportunity to replace deception with redemption. This is what they are convinced Dr. Otti of LP represents. They must not let this pass!