The Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state is dead and will be finally buried on March 11, 2023.
Otti said Labour Party killed PDP, having won one out of three senatorial seats and six out of eight Federal House Constituency slots in the state, in the National Assembly election held Saturday, February 25, effectively making LP the leading party in Abia.
Speaking at a reception on Friday in Isialangwa by the CY Nwankwo Foundation to endorse his candidacy and adopt him for the March 11 governorship election in Abia, Otti said PDP, in a last ditch effort to hang on to power, has gone to town with evil propaganda against him.
“If you listen well, you will hear all the things coming out from this sinking state government of PDP. How they would unleash violence, how they would ensure that there won’t be any voting, how they would write results, how they would use money and buy up everybody and all that.
“They have also gone ahead to reappoint some miscreants they had sacked earlier as local government Transition Committee chairmen. I think they’re just reacting like a man that is drowning. But they’re already drowned and we are going to bury them on the 11th of March.
“If you check the social media space, all what they’re doing now is releasing fake reports purportedly coming from me. One of the things they have said is that I am going to sack most of the civil servants. In fact, it’s the government appointees that are the ones circulating this on the various social media platforms.
“There’s another one, that I said I will jail former governor T. A. Orji, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and all their people; that I’ve threatened to put them in jail, as if I’m a warden or a judge or EFCC. What I’m coming to do is to work and the work is to liberate our people,” the renowned economist and top banker told his hosts.
According to Dr. Otti, his desire to redeem Abia State from the doldrums of underdevelopment and public opprobrium led him to resigning his plum job as chief executive officer of Nigeria’s one-time foremost new generation bank, Diamond Bank (now Access Bank), in 2014. He likened that sacrificial decision to the English proverb, breaking an egg to make omelette.
He said: “I want to develop this state. I want us to feel good as Abia people. I don’t want us to feel ashamed to introduce ourselves as coming from Abia, which is one of the reasons I came out to contest this election. That is why I thought I should break an egg to make omelette for all our people. Breaking an egg in this case for me is giving up my illustrious job as bank chief executive to launch this fight and I have been consistent since I started it.”
The front-running gubernatorial candidate said he is determined and would do all that is both legally and morally acceptable to lead the fight to reclaim Abia from the stranglehold of the PDP.
“I want to reassure you that I’m determined, whatever it might take, the election, we must win and we must win because the Abia people support us. They’re not stupid. They know clearly what we’re coming to do. They know we have come to develop the state. They know we are not interested in corrupt practices. They know that we will not share Abia money. They know that we will use Abia money for Abia people. They know that I have a day job, that I have a second address, that politics is not my profession. They know that after I finish being governor for eight years that I will not contest for any other thing; I will not go to the senate.
“Elsewhere, the PDP government in Abia State should be apologising to us rather than seeking to succeed itself. Somebody should tell them that they should go on their knees and beg us for forgiveness because they have ruined this state rather than presenting themselves again for election. They should all withdraw because they have failed collectively,” Otti declared.
Otti, who was accompanied to the event by the newly elected member, Isialangwa South and North Federal Constituency, Hon Ginger Onwusibe and Isialangwa North State Constituency candidate, Hon Ambassador Innocent Uruakpa, thanked the founder and chairman board of trustees of the CY Nwankwo Foundation, Sir Cyprian Nwankwo and members of the non-partisan organisation for their endorsement and offer of support.
Earlier, while making his remarks, Sir Nwankwo said the foundation took the decision to endorse Otti’s candidacy because they see him as the most reliable of all the candidates that have lined up for the governorship seat of Abia. Besides, he said that the future of Abia people depends on the decision they make on the March 11 election.
“Our future will be secured if we do the right thing today by helping to bring Alex Otti to power in Abia State. And this we must do. When the state is secure, everything will be fine. When our money is used for us, everything will be fine. So you have the choice to make the right choice and it is now,” Nwankwo said.
……VOWS TO PAY SALARY, PENSION ARREARS BY DECEMBER 2023
The LP governorship candidate has returned to the campaign turf, restating his promise to pay all workers’ outstanding salaries and pensions before the end of December 2023.
The PDP government in Abia, led by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, has continued to owe workers and retirees many months of salary and pension arrears. Recently, doctors in the state embarked on indefinite strike for non-payment of salary arrears of over 25 months. Pensioners are reportedly owed up to 56 months in arrears.
Otti’s campaign train made a quick stop at Uzuakoli, Bende Local Government Area on Wednesday, where the front-running gubernatorial candidate met and interacted with a group of locals, the Alex Otti Support Group, at the Uzuakoli Community Hall.
The group described itself as an independent body without any relationship with the Alex Otti Campaign Organisation but made up of ‘ordinary’ locals from Uzuakoli and some surrounding communities of Nkpa, Imenyi and Ozuitem, working and deploying its resources to ensure the election of the Labour Party candidate as governor of Abia State.
Led by its Convener, Rev Okechukwu Obioha, the group declared that the communities making up the group have resolved to vote only Dr. Otti and the LP State Assembly Constituency candidate for Bende South, Hon. Chijioke Nwankwo, for the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
They presented different campaign materials, including posters, fliers, T-shirts and caps which they had produced to Otti, saying that the people of the area will file out in large numbers for the March 11 election, just like in the presidential election where they voted massively for the LP candidate, Mr. Peter Obi.
Otti thanked the group for spending its resources to support him and the Labour Party in the state. He described Uzuakoli as a prominent community in Abia but has been deliberately underdeveloped by successive governments. He promised that under his watch as governor of Abia, Uzuakoli would take a place of pride as he would work to implement the town’s master plan which has been confined to the shelves.
The top banker and renowned economist, accompanied by Hon Nwankwo, was back in Bende LGA on Thursday, where he addressed large crowds of locals at Mkpa, Ozuitem and Itu-Mbauzo.
He reiterated his campaign promise to rebuild the economy of Abia through industrialisation, creation of wealth and jobs, improve the human capital of the workforce in the civil service and pay all outstanding salaries and pensions owed by the government, before the end of December 2023.
Otti told the people not to be discouraged by the non-declaration of Peter Obi as the winner of the presidential election, held February 25, saying that it was not yet over as Obi has sworn to reclaim his mandate.
He assured the cheering communities at every stop that the Labour Party Presidential candidate has a history of always bouncing back to reclaim his mandate. He made reference to Anambra, where Obi, on two occasions, recovered his mandate as elected governor through the courts.
Dr. Otti, who led Labour Party in Abia to a massive win in the National Assembly election, where the party won six out of the eight Federal Constituency seats and one out of three senatorial slots, called on the people to troop out enmasse and vote for Labour Party in the March 11 governorship and state assembly elections.
“When we do this, we would have completed the redeeming of our state from the hands of those who have underdeveloped it for 24 years and then we will begin the process of restoration and redevelopment,” he told the locals who expressed happiness at the honour of his presence in their communities.