“Today, if you visit anywhere in Abia State, beginning from Aba, the commercial hub of the South East, you do not need anybody to tell you that Abia State under Gov. Alex Otti and his Labour Party government has proven every critic wrong and affirmed that development is possible when the right leadership is in place in every organization”
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
Penultimate last week the Executive governor of Abia State, H.E. Dr. Alex Otti (OFR) cut the ribbons for about 14 access roads that were reconstructed and repaired to ease the burden of commuters and road users in the city of Aba, South East most thriving commercial hub, this in addition to the opening of about 200 remodeled Healthcare facilities in every ward across the 17 Local government , the completed Aba-Port Harcourt Road now open for business connecting the city of Port Harcourt in Rivers State and Aba in Abia State, two most thriving commercial hub in Southern Nigeria.
This much talked about road has been so iconic among many infrastructure projects undertaken by the Otti’s led Labour party government for several reasons, it remains a signature project and one of the significant optics of the ‘New Abia’ a complete departure from the failures of previous administrations under Orji Uzo Kalu, T.A. Orji and Okezie Ikpeazu, all past governors of the state culminating to 24 years of filth and stagnation in the ‘Old Abia’ and most importantly is the recent publication by the Federal Domestic Debt Management Office revealing the debt status of the 36 states of the federation, while other states struggle to breathe out of self induced financial asphyxiation, Abia State under Otti has dropped out of that shameful rating from a debilitating debt profile of over 102 Billion Naira incurred by the Okezie Ikpeazu government and others, down to about 66.078billion as at 31st December 2024.
If you visit Abia State today from Aba to the capital city of Umuahia and the adjoining towns, the difference between the ‘Old Abia’ and the ‘New Abia’ is as clear as daylight.
One of the much talked about subjects; spearheaded by Oppositional elements has been the relocation of Government business to the governor’s residence in Nvosi, abandoning the Government House, Umuahia. This is one of the most confusing and deceptive optics whipped up by Opposition elements, some of them, whom have never visited Abia in the past 2 years.
The image of the Government House today cannot and never be compared to what it used to be when the Otti’s government came into power. It was more than an eyesore, it was a shameful edifice abandoned with many facilities left to rot and unusable, a stigma to any government that claim to have a self worth, but today, every Abia state indigene or a visitor whom have had any chance to see the the previous structure called ‘Government House’ where the Abia State government used to operate from and the great change that has happened to those infrastructures, under Otti’s leadership would attest to the fact that, those who have turned to the opposition without objectively examining the recent activities of government of the New Abia have merely resorted to lies and campaign calumny as a last resort for a spoil of what they and their friends were unable to accomplish when they were in government.
Like the destructive household rats that will nibble virtually at every item in the house including vital portions of your Degree certificate and currency notes just to render them useless, the previous administrations in Abia did made attempt at several things but accomplished virtually nothing rather they left trails of ruins and neglect in the manner of the household rat. Today, under the Governor Otti’s Labour party government, evidence abounds of several remodeled environmental infrastructure across the state that were previously completely abandoned like the household rats will do, ‘touch this, touch that, bite this, bite that’ leaving everything in ruins while the citizens of the state suffers the neglect for decades leading to loss of lives and collapse of business, stiffening Abia’s economic ratings.
Today, if you visit anywhere in Abia State, beginning from Aba, the commercial hub of the South East, you do not need anybody to tell you that Abia State under Governor Alex Otti and his Labour Party government has proven every critic wrong and affirmed that development is possible when the right leadership is in place in every organization.
Opposition elements has struggled to disprove these images of the new Abia as merely existing on facebook and nonexistent, sometimes a certain individual, who takes pride in his sojourn overseas, hiding from the economic realities of events in his home country, comes online and stage a wager of N100,000 or more, to anyone who can show him a single visible new project by the Otti’s Labour party government anywhere in Abia, especially in his region of Isiala Ngwa North and South, others have been very vocal across all social media platforms in the bid to confuse and deceive the people with bland rhetoric, some even went further to compare images of infrastructure development in Enugu State under Governor Peter Mba and his LG Chairmen to what Governor Alex Otti is doing in Abia.
For those who may wish to know; Abia State and Enugu State do not stand any chances of comparison. While Abia State and its resident suffers under a rudderless and remote controlled governance in the past 20 years, Enugu State under ex Governor Sullivan Chime were led into a template of quality governance that the present Governor has merely continued to work with irrespective of political party differences, whereas Abia has had practically nothing that wears the semblance of a responsible government but manipulated experimental political leadership that was terminated in 22nd March 2023 by the people of Abia State under Labour Party.
In the course of political campaigns, it is evident, many politicians and their ‘Job man’ are known to be loaded with rhetoric and platitudes of what they and their ‘hallelujah boys’ are never inclined to accomplish, the focus of the campaign activities has always been to woo the unsuspecting members of the public with sweet words and vain promises until they manage to crawl into power either by the hook or by the crook, then they shut the door behind those who elected them into the office until another electoral year and if they by happenstance fall out of power, like it happened in Abia State on the 22nd March 2023, they will go for the spoil under the guise of ‘Opposition’, in most cases, their whole intent is skewed and bent on distracting a working government and deceiving the ignorant in the society, this a typical example of the Abia Oppositional elements under whatsoever Party they chose to align themselves.
Abians should not be bothered about the rhetoric and platitudes of those acting as Opposition elements today, perhaps to unseat the Otti’s Labour party government in the next election, They do not mean well for the state and her people and have merely resorted to lying and deception, perhaps to sway and deceive the ignorant and ill-informed on the quality infrastructure development ongoing in the New Abia, the disciplined administrative services that has given the workers their due honor in government and sound fiscal policies that has reduced Abia’s debt profile by 48% since the emergence of the Otti’s government.
Most disturbing are those hiding under the cloak of political activism, they do not live in the state neither have they visited this state since the end of the last electoral campaign, both they and their sponsors have only one mission, to steal and return Abia into the shameful days of filth and laziness, their sense of optics of the new Abia is skewed and adversely imagined, they are liars and knows very little or nothing what is going on down here so they resorted to lies and deception, Let nobody take them serious under whatsoever circumstance rather, I welcome you all to a New Abia, Come, see and believe.
Njoku SaintJerry is a member of the SWC and an Ambassdor, with the State of African Diaspora (SOAD)
