By Onyeka Uduma
The present level of decadence in Abia State, no doubt, accounts for the avalanche of aspirants under the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) who want to help in the rescue of the State.
Of course, everyone of them has the requisite qualification to govern, and is driven by the burning desire to pull their beloved State from the brink of collapse.
But who, amongst all the APC aspirants, has what it takes to help oust the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the State from its obvious mis-governance and mismanagement of resources?
Dr Alex Otti, who has consistently reaffirmed his commitment to serve the people of the State, is the best aspirant who has the mental, moral and managerial acumen to deliver.
Otti, a former Managing Director of the now rested Diamond Bank, lamented that the ruling PDP in Abia had not done enough for the State hence the compelling need to kick them out of power.
In view of the incumbency factor in the Nigerian politics, APC cannot afford to toy with its candidacy for the Abia gubernatorial race.
Knowing that the ruling PDP would want to do everything possible to retain the State, it is only advisable that the APC should put the right foot forward, else it may lick the dust.
Already, Otti’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, has called on the party leaders, stakeholders and teeming supporters at all levels in Abia State, to remain calm and confident, assuring that the current challenges before the party would be resolved.
Speaking against the backdrop of the intense lobbying by different aspirants and interest groups in the opposition party, Otti noted that despite the agitations, the leaders and major stakeholders of the party are intensifying efforts to ensure that peace and stability are restored, which he emphasized, as the antidote for victory in the 2023 governorship election.
Otti has rightly noted that since democracy is a game of numbers, no individual “would be allowed to cause the destruction of the party through mischief and lawlessness,” and predicted huge success for the APC in the 2023 election in Abia if popular and credible candidates are fielded.
He pledged to liaise with other progressives and ensure that majority of those who may have left the party out of anger and frustration returned in due course, under a united, peaceful and progressive APC family.
“I want to further use this opportunity to call on those who have not obtained their Permanent Voters Cards to do so as quickly as possible, to enable them vote for candidates of their choice at the appropriate time,” he advised.
Otti, who has made two previous attempts of becoming the governor of the State in the 2015 and 2019 governorship election on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) before he defected to the APC, said he would continue to commit his resources to the “liberation of the State from bad governance under the PDP.”
He disclosed that his policy direction for the State has not changed, adding: “We are not changing our direction that we are going this time; it has not changed from our initial direction.
“I am not in the race for a few Abians but for all Abians; we will not consider payment of salaries to workers and pensioners as gestures from the government for their welfare,” he disclosed.
This assurance is only necessary since, without a cohesive and united front, the party may find it difficult to surmount the onerous task of defeating its common enemy and that of the State, which that has suffered needless and avoidable poor leadership under the PDP.