\u201cWatch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining,
\nfaultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.\u201d ~ Joyce Meyer<\/p>\n
Electoral contests are like every other game: he who wishes to win must
\nalso learn how to lose. There are no provisions for “draws” in electoral
\ncontests and those who engage must be prepared for one of two outcomes;
\nvictory or defeat.<\/p>\n
But where a loser refuses to accept defeat we refer to such people as sore
\nlosers.<\/p>\n
Clearly Alex Otti is a sore loser who is finding it extremely difficult to
\naccept his electoral decimation by “common” Okezie Ikpeazu that he wrote
\noff even before the contest started.<\/p>\n
To underscore the above, it is important to note two events that unfolded
\nafter the highest court in Nigeria affirmed the victory of PDP’s Okezie
\nIkpeazu over Alex Otti of APGA.<\/p>\n
First was the vehement refusal of Otti to congratulate Governor Ikpeazu
\nafter the Supreme Court verdict. Compare that to Dakuku Peterside of
\nRivers’ APC and Emeka Ihedioha of PDP Imo State who promptly congratulated
\nGovernors Nyesom Wike and Rochas Okorocha, respectively, after the Supreme
\nCourt ruled on their even more fiercely contested elections.<\/p>\n
Days after his resounding unanimous defeat at the Supreme Court, Otti
\nreturned to Aba and organized a motley crowd of supporters mostly ferried
\nin from Anambra and Rivers state at Etche Road field for what he termed
\n“thanksgiving service”. In the course of that gathering he was introduced
\nas “Governor of Abia State” several times by different speakers including
\nthe Chairman of APGA. He did not at any time correct the treasonable
\nmisrepresentation but audaciously told his audience to expect something to
\n“happen before December 2016” that will catapult him (Otti) to Umuahia
\ngovernment house.<\/p>\n
Yet the real Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, preferred to
\nindulge him and continued to focus on his job of governing Abia State.
\nMay be that was a mistake.<\/p>\n
While I was enjoying my democracy day vacation, my attention was drawn to
\na widely circulating malicious publication titled \u201cone year down the line,
\nlight is yet to come to Abia\u201d. It was sponsored and endorsed by the same
\ndefeated APGA candidate, Alex Otti, and his social media employees who are
\nstill smarting from the disappointment of the irreversible defeat by Dr
\nOkezie Ikpeazu gleefully circulated it at social media.<\/p>\n
When I finally found time to read a copy of his advertorial published by
\ntwo newspapers and circulated by his social media hirelings, the contents
\nshocked me even though I have always known Otti and his people to be
\nmasters of lies and half truths. It was a new low and a script written by
\na still sore loser seeking to keep his gullible audience high on overdose
\nof his readily available hallucinatory conjectures.<\/p>\n
Otti’s tissues of lies publications clearly confirmed that he is not on
\nground in Abia but merely receive his information from social media gossip
\npublications as the anointed “Abia Facebook Governor”. Like a popular
\nproverb says: \u201cGossiping and lying go hand in hand.\u201d If Otti or his
\nhirelings live and pay taxes in Abia they would have had firsthand
\nknowledge of progressive events in the state since Dr Okezie Ikpeazu
\nascended a year ago and be able to express informed opinions on issues
\nregarding Abia.<\/p>\n
Even the blind in Abia can see the improvement in infrastructural
\ndevelopment at Aba and other towns in Abia. The deaf must have heard of
\nthe good works of “Okezuo Abia” while the populations of those that are
\nhigh on Otti’s propaganda overdose have diminished drastically since May
\n2015 that Okezie resumed at work to flag off reconstruction of four roads
\nat Aba.<\/p>\n
I challenge Mr Otti and his goons to come down from the air and undertake
\na tour with me round Aba and Abia to show them what Governor Okezie was
\nable to achieve even in the midst of ill advised distractions from Otti
\nand his co-travelers.<\/p>\n
Firstly, for the avoidance of doubt, the Eze of Nenu is alive and well,
\ncontrary to the malicious lies of Alex Otti in his advertorial. Again, I
\ninvite the media to travel to the Obingwa community where he presides and
\nmeet with the Eze that our sore election loser claimed was murdered by
\nkidnappers.<\/p>\n
But the fact of the Eze being alive and well does not in any way say that
\nthere are no security challenges at Aba or Abia. Those who know Abia will
\ntell you that Aba is central to the south east and south south. Security
\nchallenges in neighboring states surely affect Abia and since Otti lost at
\nthe Supreme Court there have been further spikes in security incidences
\nincluding the well reported one involving the abduction of a trader at Aba
\nand his recovery by security forces at a community close to Otti’s
\nancestral hometown that led to the demolition of kidnappers den recently.<\/p>\n
Ordinarily, it is tempting to remind Otti of the armed thugs from Aguleri
\nand others he imported into Aba during the polls. Have they been disarmed
\nor still hanging around Abia to wait for the promised November 2016
\nswearing in of Alex Otti?<\/p>\n
As responsible citizens, we hope and pray there are no plans by desperate
\noffice seekers to murder the traditional ruler of Nenu Autonomous
\nCommunity, Eze Nguma Iregbu, and hang it on Okezie government. The same
\nway Obingwa INEC office was burnt during the polls. We call on security
\nagents to take necessary steps to protect the life of the Eze and that of
\nall Abians and residents.<\/p>\n
It is also important that Mr Otti consider availing security agent\u2019s
\ndetailed information on how he got the news of the kidnap and killing of
\nthe Eze. Obviously it must have been the same source he got information on
\nthe purported assassination attempt on him at Abuja while he was actually
\nin Abia, according to him.<\/p>\n
The most disheartening part of Otti’s advertorial to me personally was his
\nattempt to politicize the death of another community leader from my
\nhometown, Senator Onyeka Okoroafor, who ill advisedly backed him during
\nthe polls. Coming from a man whose supposed best friend and great Abiriba
\nson died recently in a US hospital after a brief illness and in spite of
\nthe availability of the best medical facilities in the world, it is the
\nheight of irresponsibility to link Senator Onyeka’s death to \u201cpoor medical
\nfacilities at Aba\u201d.<\/p>\n
For the records, Chief Onyeka reportedly died of complications related to
\nruptured appendix a day after arriving Aba from Abuja. How that ailment
\nwas not diagnosed and treated at Otti’s \u201cAbuja\u201d till the appendix burst
\nand the man had to be rushed to the teaching hospital at Aba is something
\nsome of us are still asking questions about. Could it be that such a
\nfrontline supporter of Otti’s ill fated ambition wasn’t able to find or
\npay for life saving Medicare at Abuja where he was abandoned by Otti until
\nit was too late for his life to be saved at Aba? Only Otti will have
\nanswers but I know for a fact that people still die under the best medical
\ndoctors and facilities in the world. Otti should know that more than any
\nother peson.<\/p>\n
It beats my imagination that Otti prefers to use Abiriba and her great
\npeople as political pawns in his continuing rage against his political
\nconqueror. Does he have to mention Senator Onyeka’s name or the “Abiriba
\nman from abroad….” to drive home his lies? May be it is time for Abiriba
\ncommunity leaders to rise up and tell Otti that elections are over and we
\nwish to support Governor Ikpeazu to make Abia greater. Since the creation
\nof Abia State no other Governor has done for our community what Governor
\nIkpeazu is doing for us including the construction of Abiriba Ring Road,
\nremediation of Abiriba round about gully erosion and re-certification of
\nOkezie School of Midwifery among others, Nobody anointed Otti to speak for
\nus and we surely should no longer tolerate his continued meddling in
\nAbiriba affairs even to the extent of deciding for us who to invite to
\ntraditional ceremonies like burials or how to mourn our children. Enough!<\/p>\n
Governor Okezie has retooled security forces in Abia to enhance their
\ncapacity to fight crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery. In one year
\nhe has donated more than 30 vehicles to the police and the military, fully
\nfitted with communication gadgets. In addition to that, he is
\nstrengthening community policing through the expansion and retraining of
\nthe state vigilante services. Just weeks ago he approved the recruitment
\nof additional 7540 able bodied youths to join the service and work with
\nthe police to safeguard Abia communities.<\/p>\n
We are not the only state facing the challenge of kidnapping and armed
\nrobbery but our Governor has shown determination to tackle the situation
\nand safeguard lives and properties within his constitutional powers. Even
\nstates in the north like Kano and Kaduna are witnessing upsurge in kidnap
\ncases. Yet Governor Okezie considers the menace of armed robbery and
\nkidnapping major threats to his economic growth agenda especially with
\nregards to Aba as the commercial hub of Abia and the South East. While he
\nwill continue to support security agents to confront and defeat the
\ncriminals he is also embarking on aggressive job creation drive to ensure
\nthat our youths are gainfully employed and unavailable to be used as thugs
\nor sent on kidnap missions by desperately sore politicians.<\/p>\n
Okezie’s job creation efforts include launching an education for
\nemployment scheme aimed at training youths in appropriate skills and
\nhelping them to find jobs or become self employed. Private entrepreneurs
\nlike tailors and shoe makes are receiving material support and training to
\nprofitably improve their output and margins to enable them support and
\nbenefit from the governor\u2019s aggressive promotion of made in Abia goods. He
\nis also supporting the resuscitation of moribund factories like Aba Glass
\nIndustry and Golden Guinea breweries to enable those plants add more jobs.
\nAn ongoing Intra-city transport scheme is currently delivering over 120
\ntaxis to Abia youths with more expected in the coming months. In just one
\nyear he has added nearly 20,000 new jobs. including private sector jobs.<\/p>\n
In summary the approach of Governor Okezie to meeting the challenge of
\narmed robbery and kidnapping includes supporting security agents to do
\ntheir jobs in a smarter and more efficient way as well as providing jobs
\nfor our youths to remove them from the temptation of engaging in crimes.
\nOtti’s disruptive rhetoric, including categorizing criminals into APGA and
\nPDP members, is to say the least unfortunate and unhelpful. When criminals
\nare arrested Otti\u2019s vuvuzelas quickly allege political persecution as if
\nthere are people wearing APGAor PDP badges on their foreheads while
\ncommitting crimes.<\/p>\n
Otti really needs to snap out of his electoral defeat mode quickly.<\/p>\n
It should be recalled that after his final defeat at the Supreme Court, Mr
\nOtti rejected the olive branch extended to him by Governor Ikpeazu who
\nalso invited him to come and join hands with him to further develop Abia.
\nJust like he rejected post-election overtures by many well meaning Abians
\nto settle electoral disputes outside the courts and avoid unnecessary
\ndistraction of the new Governor with litigations after the supplementary
\nGovernorship polls.<\/p>\n
In case he does not know, many in Abia readily point to Otti’s propaganda
\ndriven legal challenge as potentially distracting to the new Government
\nthat had to endure nine months of frivolous litigations while also
\ndelivering dividends to Abians. Why should it be same Otti that will be
\nraving and ranting about wasted first year when he practically attempted
\nto waste 9 months of Governor Okezie’s one year?<\/p>\n
I make bold to state that if Otti had spent just 30% of the money he was
\nwasting on litigations from tribunal to Supreme Court in building just
\none factory at Aba many of our youths would have been gainfully employed.
\nIt is a shame that to date Otti does not have a single job creating
\ninvestment in Abia yet he rushes to whine about high crime rate in a state
\nhe only visits with retinue of paid security agents armed to the teeth,
\nfor only political purposes.<\/p>\n
Where in Abia is Otti\u2019s job creating business or philanthropic works located?<\/p>\n
Otti may not have used the new roads constructed by Okezie but he should
\nat least ask those living at Aba. They will tell him that Ukaegbu, Ehere,
\nUmuojima\/MCC, Owerri, Omni, Ochefu, Umuocham, Kamalu, Umuola, Umule, East,
\nSDA off Udeagbala, MCC, Umuocham\/Umule express link road, Adazi, Tonimas
\noff PH Express, Park, St Michael’s, and many other roads have been
\nreconstructed with gutters and street lighting for at least 18 roads. They
\nwill also tell him about extensive drainage desilting works that saved Aba
\nfrom flooding during the heavy rains of last year as well as the dredging
\nof waterside to receive more storm water.<\/p>\n
If Otti comes down from the air and visit Abia today he will see that
\nGovernor Okezie is actively working on 67 roads with 28 fully delivered
\nwhile others like Abiriba Ring road, Idima-Abam and Arochukwu roads are
\npartially realized. Road 2 at world bank Umuahia, Uwalaka, Kaduna,
\nUmuwaya, Dozie way and other roads have been delivered at Umuahia while
\nAba Road-Ubakala junction dualization is ongoing alongside 4 other roads
\nat Umuahia.<\/p>\n
Contrary to Otti’s propaganda and lies, Governor Okezie is even working on
\nmore roads, by kilometers, in Abia North where Otti is from than at Aba.
\nSo what exactly is his beef?<\/p>\n
As further proof of his lying nature, Otti alleged that a report from the
\nDebt Management Office (DMO) placed Abia as the most indebted state with
\nN78b loans. For a supposed first class graduate, that is shocking. NO SUCH
\nREPORT EXISTS FROM DMO. What our propaganda challenged sore loser may have
\nbeen referring to was a Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report that
\nindividual borrowing by private businessmen in Abia was N78b. How does
\nthat translate to Governor Okezie exposing Abia to debt of N78b? How are
\nwe even sure Otti\u2019s personal loans are not part of the reported amount?<\/p>\n
It is unfortunate that Otti has refused to snap out of his sore losing
\nmode to join hands with Governor Ikpeazu and contribute in a more
\nmeaningful way to Abia’s development. It also beats my imagination that
\nOtti who has been intimately involved and acted as unofficial financial
\nadviser to the Governors of Abia from 1999 to 2015 is the same person
\nrailing against those Governors and Governments. He needs to come clean
\nwith common Abians and tell us what exactly he was doing for our former
\nGovernors that he is now calling names because one of them listened to the
\ncry of Abians for equity in power distribution.<\/p>\n
Who exactly are those elders being paid N1m monthly as alleged by Otti?
\nAbians want names and evidence. Not campaign style noise. Elections are
\nover and if Otti dares to name the elders we will haunt them down and
\nrecover our money. We don’t need Otti’s empty court threat. Give us names
\nand figures or shut up sir.<\/p>\n
Truth be told, revenue to Abia State from federal allocations have dropped
\nby more than 50%. Before Dr Okezie came to power the state was receiving
\naround N4b monthly with a wage bill of about N2.5b. Just last month the
\nstate received N1.7b as allocation. It is not peculiar to Abia and even
\noil rich Rivers state recently applied for bailout loan of N10b to enable
\nit pay salaries after receiving N3.5b as allocation. Niger state and more
\nthan 28 other states have declared their inability to pay salaries because
\nof dwindling allocations. In case Otti does not know, Nigeria is in dire
\neconomic straits such that even the federal government is complaining
\nabout salary load.<\/p>\n
For the avoidance of doubt, salary payments are currently being rotated by
\nthe state government such that one group will be behind by a month before
\nthe next allocation. Is it Otti’s position that the government should use
\nthe N1.7b allocation and add whatever is received as IGR and pay salaries
\nalone then forget every other responsibility of government? If that be the
\ncase, thank God we didn’t make the mistake of voting for Otti.<\/p>\n
I know for a fact that nothing gives Dr Ikpeazu more sleepless nights than
\nthe challenge of paying salaries every 25th as he promised during the
\ncampaigns. But then when he made that promise Abia’s financials were
\nhealthier. It is on record that under pressure in December 2015 with
\nallocation of about N2b Dr Okezie ensured that workers were paid by 23rd
\nof December.<\/p>\n
If Otti had obtained published figures on allocations to Abia he possibly
\nwould have been asking how Governor Okezie is keeping Abia state going
\nwith new projects being commissioned almost weekly without substantially
\nincreasing the tax burden of Abians, particularly the long suffering
\ntraders at Aba. May be Otti would have opted to impose new levies on the
\ntraders to fund his champagne lifestyle.<\/p>\n
How does one separate workers at a local government into PDP and APGA
\noutside the fertile imaginative minds of a sore loser? What exactly did
\nAlex mean when he wrote that “Umuahia South LGA, workers who are accused
\nof being anti PDP have been denied their salaries for about 7 months as
\nagainst their pro PDP counterparts who are owed for only about 2 months.
\nSome of them have been given punitive transfers to hostile local
\ngovernments to encourage them to resign.”<\/p>\n
In the first place civil servants are expected to maintain political
\nneutrality and as far as I know voting in Nigeria is via secret ballot.
\nAll the LGAs in Abia have PDP members as transition heads. How does one
\nidentify individuals who voted for APGA or PDP prior to preparation of pay
\nroll? Does that not confirm the fact of Otti’s patronage of gossip news
\nsources? That Otti has tried to politicize every single activity in Abia
\nshould now be clear to all. Just like his goons will rush to claim that a
\ncaptured kidnapper was arrested by soldiers because he is an APGA member
\neven when the man confessed to his crime.<\/p>\n
If indeed Governor Okezie is punishing those who didn’t vote for him what
\nis he doing working on Aba, Abiriba and Arochukwu roads? I suppose Otti’s
\nunfounded rants should provide a window to how he would have governed Abia
\nif God had allowed his elaborate rigging scheme to work. Fortunately for
\nAbians, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is not Alex Otti. He does not even care
\nabout who voted for him or not hence his offer of olive branch to the
\ndefeated Otti to come and join him in growing Abia. Apparently Otti’s
\nmalicious mindset prevented him from taking up the offer.
\nOtti and his band of social media desperadoes who aptly tagged him \u201cAbia’s
\nFacebook Governor\u201d should come down to Abia and pay taxes so we can have
\nmore money for development projects. Spreading distracting lies against
\nOkezie’s administration is not what Abia needs now. Even those who voted
\nfor Otti at Aba are celebrating that God gave Abia Governor Ikpeazu.<\/p>\n
This same clique of desperadoes were running round Abuja whispering lies
\nto everyone who cared to listen to the effect that Governor Ikpeazu was
\nsponsoring IPOB protests. When that failed they resorted to recruiting
\npaid social medial activists to tarnish the governor’s image through the
\nmalicious claim that Governor Ikpeazu ordered the unfortunate incident at
\nNational High School involving IPOB members and security agents. Haba
\nOtti!<\/p>\n
While the Governor and his team may have decided to ignore the malicious
\nlies of Otti, his latest concoctions appear over the cliff, even for a man
\nknown to hug gossip and form opinions from such dark sources.<\/p>\n
I urge all Nigerians, especially young impressionable Abians at social
\nmedia, to totally ignore the malicious ranting of Alex Otti. If anything,
\nput him to task and ask him to point out any public comment he made, for
\ninstance, to demand the release of Nnamdi Kanu or the location of his
\nemployment generating business in Abia. Otti and his supporters who sought
\nto make political capital out of the Biafra agitations by suggesting that
\nGovernor Okezie was sponsoring IPOB do not deserve your listening ears.
\nThey are liars of Abia State.<\/p>\n
On his claims regarding bailout funds, that should not be surprising
\ncoming from a man who lives in the air, Lagos or Abuja but was only
\ninterested in buying the governorship of Abia as a trophy. Everyone in
\nAbia is aware that the state collected N14.1b bailout loan and Governor
\nOkezie Ikpeazu promptly constituted a committee that included
\nrepresentatives of NLC, TUC and others to disburse the funds. The
\ncommittee concluded its assignment and produced a report detailing how
\nthey disbursed the loan. Otti and his gang must have seen that report, if
\nindeed they have genuine interest in the affairs of the state. ICPC
\napplauded Governor Ikpeazu for the transparent way he handled the bailout
\ndisbursement and Otti can ask ICPC for their report.<\/p>\n
If the orchestrated lies and propaganda by Otti and his social media
\nrecruits are part of the plot to “remove Okezie before December 2016” as
\nper his Etche field declaration it will surely fail like other desperate
\nplots by the same band of desperadoes. Power belongs to God and He has
\nchosen Dr Okezie over Otti. The earlier Otti and his co-travelers realize
\nthat the better for Abia.<\/p>\n
It is not the fault of Dr Ikpeazu or his supporters that Otti is currently
\nout of job. Rather than Otti and his goons attacking the Governor and the
\ncurrent commissioner of Finance, he may wish to reach out directly to the
\nGovernor to lobby for the office of the commissioner of Finance in Abia
\nState. If he is better qualified than the incumbent he just might be
\nhired.<\/p>\n
It is time for well meaning Abians to ask Alex Otti to stop maliciously
\ndistracting Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. The Governor and his team have been
\ntransparent in letting Abians know the true state of our finance,
\nincluding monthly information on Federal allocation to the state. If a
\nstate that was previously receiving an average of N4b monthly is receiving
\nN1.7b in the month of April 2016, Abians expect adjustments in expenditure
\npatterns. Such a situation calls for support to the government and
\nunderstanding. Not desperate distractions.<\/p>\n
Those who have Otti’s ears should tell him that it is high time he starts
\nmaking tangible contributions to Abia’s development instead of offering
\nmaliciously polarizing commentaries on Abia affairs. We want to read about
\nhis job creating business investment in Abia or acts of philanthropy aimed
\nat supporting common folks of Abia. And while at it please ask Otti the
\nsame question Sean Covey asked years ago: \u201cIsn\u2019t it kind of silly to think
\nthat tearing someone else down builds you up?\u201d
\nGovernor Okezie certainly has not done everything there is to do in Abia
\nbut real Abians know that he has done some things and he is certainly on
\ntrack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWatch out for the joy-stealers: gossip, criticism, complaining, faultfinding, and a negative, judgmental attitude.\u201d ~ Joyce Meyer Electoral contests are like every other game: he who wishes to win must…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n