By Tony Icheku
Alex Otti is not a quitter. When he is convinced about something, he pursues it will all zeal. His character, so far, in the contest for the governorship of Abia state has indeed surprised many, and even after the elections, his tenacity in defending that mandate has also impressed.
To some people he is just the famed economist, banker, investor, and philanthropist that he actually is.
Many assume that the right place for such a man is the boardroom, not the tough terrain of partisan politics. But he has proved that is he is not chicken‐hearted and that his foray into politics was borne out of deep‐seated conviction that he has much to contribute in uplifting the circumstances of Abia people.
More significantly, he has proven that he can stand up for his convictions. Many who had written him off as a political joker have had enough in the past year to make them think differently.
Only a few in Abia –much fewer outside –ever gave Otti a chance in the polls. And so, when the poll result was first announced in favour of the state's ruling party, the expectation was that the immediate
past Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc would beat his chest for trying, and thereafter retire to one boardroom, to fight another day. Very few expected that the 51‐year‐old former banker would give any fight at all, much more coming that close to prevailing in the end.
On Wednesday, February 3, 2016 the contest came to a finality with the Supreme court verdict going in favour of Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It is a decision he has since taken in his strides, just like he had remained calm following the 31st December, 2015, judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri which had declared him winner of the April 11 elections in the state. For the man already priming himself for inauguration as governor, it is indeed a hard pill to swallow, but which he must accept if his democratic credentials are anything to reckon with.
In his reaction after the judgment, he said he accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court, although we do not agree with the judgment as he believes that justice was not served in the case. “we believe that justice was not served in the case…it is very important to underscore at this point, that the Supreme
Court, which is composed of human beings, is not infallible”. He observed that the apex court judgments in Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Zamfara and Ebonyi, followed the same pattern which can best be described as a bandwagon effect and called for a cleansing and an overhaul of the Judiciary.
He expressed disappointment that the various acts of illegality he hoped to put an end to in Abia state, would continue under the PDP administration. While he thanked Abians for support, he stated emphatically that in the Supreme Court, only delivered judgment, but not justice. According to him, “judgement, not justice was delivered”
To enquiries about his political future, Otti is not decided yet. While still soaking in the loss of the governor's seat to Okezie Ikpeazu, he has for now elected to wait and see: “my answer will be that I would wait to assess progress in Abia under the new administration before making a final decision…we
should not distract anyone right now with discussion of 2019, but I can assure you that I will always be available and interested in improving the lot of my people”.
Born February 18, 1965, Otti has always found a place at the very top during his education and in his career. Losing was never part of his history. While at the University of Port Harcourt, he distinguished himself by graduating not only as the Best Student of the Faculty of Social Sciences but also as the Overall Best Graduating Student for that year.
He began his banking career in 1989 with the Nigerian International Bank, a subsidiary of Citibank New York, where he worked in the operations department. Thereafter he moved to the then Nigerian Intercontinental Merchant Bank Ltd. In 1992, he joined Societe Bancaire Nigeria Limited (Merchant Bankers), a subsidiary of Banque SBA Paris where he rose to the position of a senior manager. He moved on to the United Bank for Africa (UBA) as principal manager overseeing the bank's corporate banking sector for the entire South Division with the responsibility of growing the oil and gas business for the bank.
In May 2001, he joined First Bank of Nigeria, PLC as assistant general manager and eventually rose to become executive director, commercial banking, then ultimately to Diamond Bank as group managing director/ Chief executive officer where he led the bank through a major transformation. On October 24, 2014 however, Otti voluntary retired from the bank and plunged into politics.
But for his resilience, doggedness and response to a vision beyond him, Dr. Alex Otti would not have come so far in the Abia governorship contest which started first at the polling booths and has now ended at the Supreme Court.
Otti's steely bravado simply manifests the deep yearnings of Abians to vote for a fresh idea and a new direction. Now it is a dream deferred. The next few years will tell how resilient he is as a politician and leader. More importantly, all eyes will focus on how he keys into the promise of helping to rescue Abia from years of rot, even from the sidelines
'Am Not Desperate To Be Governor'
In his response to these questions before the Supreme Court judgement, Alex Otti analyses the Abia governorship contest and why he was committed to dislodging the PDP from the state.
There are allegations from the camp of the present governor that your appeal court victory is premeditated. Apart from the fact that the result is in your favor, how would you rate the quality of that judgement?
Anyone who has taken out time to read the judgement issued by the Appeal court in this matter will appreciate the extent of rigor that went into the inevitable verdict they reached. The honorable justices took their time to dissect the judgement of the lower tribunal and clearly outlined where and how they had no anchor in law and logic. The PDP town criers do not argue the fact and the legal basis of the judgement, they are more concerned about how the outcome will impact the selfish few who have held the state down in the last sixteen years.
It will be absurd for any court to reward brazen electoral crimes ranging from open and symbolic threats to innocent law abiding citizens, invasion of the INEC head office in Umuahia by a high ranking PDP national publicist, a serving senator from Abia state and the sitting PDP governor who provided state
backed security cover for this unprecedented show of shame. In order to secure the future of democracy in Nigeria, the judicial system must make bold statements that leave no doubts in the minds of these professional riggers that there will be consequences for such shameful unlawful behaviors.
From a layman's point, is it really a contradiction that the Appeal court sitting in Owerri affirmed the results in the 3 controversial LGAs where the same voting materials were used and similar human elements played out?
The two scenarios are different and the cases were looked at on their individual merits by different panels. The fact is that there were massive irregularities in these three local government areas in all the elections but as you know, the judges will always form their opinions based on the presentation of the cases and evidence tendered. In the case of the governorship election, our legal team and witnesses provided incontrovertible evidence to back our claims that the PDP and its agents violated the electoral laws and why they should not be allowed to benefit from breaking the law. We are also aware that some of the house of assembly candidates did not pursue their cases for different reasons including funding challenges.
The Abia PDP argues that from the simple arithmetic of the Ukwa‐Ngwas having 9 out of 17 LGAs, and because the governorship was zoned to them, Okezie Ikpeazu won by a wide margin, what do you make of this argument?
Elections are not won simply by arithmetic permutations. Abia PDP knows that it lied here. The truth is that they do not have the numbers they are bandying. What they did not say is that the two local governments of Aba North and South with registered voters numbering almost 400,000 are not part of their arrangement as over 95% of the inhabitants are neither from Ngwa nor Ukwa. That is the reason APGA trounced PDP here and even in the House of Representatives election, an APGA candidate won
and the three seats in the state house of assembly are occupied by APGA. The same thing goes for Osisioma and Ugwunagbo. So in reality, core Ngwa local governments are Obingwa, Isiala Ngwa North and South. Having said that, it is important to state that elections are won by valid votes cast during elections.
So the votes cannot count or is it…?
This assertion by the Abia PDP gives you a window on how they planned the shameful rigging that took place. Their mindset was that Okezie Ikpeazu must win at all cost regardless of the actual number of votes cast in his favor. They talk about zoning. The party I represent does not recognize zoning as a means of choosing candidates for elections, I did not contest the election under PDP, if they have a zoning arrangement, I don't see what that has to do with me or my party, I don't see what that has to do with alleviating the suffering of the common man, clearly the common man does not see the relevance as well, that is why they came out in their huge numbers to vote for the best man for the job. PDP would need to be told in clear terms to stop using their jaundiced standards to judge others. For the records, I won the election in fourteen of the seventeen local government areas where elections were adjudged free and fair. The other three local government areas were places where PDP and their co‐travelers allocated votes to themselves.
At a stage, the 2015 governorship race in Abia was reduced to an ethnic tussle. How best should the divisions created by this rhetoric be healed and unity restored ?
Those who tarred the tussle with sectional colors are the few loud rent seekers who have benefited from the rot in the state over the years. My supporters cut across all lines in the three senatorial districts of the state, the same way poverty, insecurity, unemployment, poor health care delivery system,
environmental neglect and all the burden that the successive PDP government has hoisted on the state has no lines. The vast majority of the Abia people have suffered the consequence of this ill wind in equal measure, that is why they craved for the change that happened during the elections in the state. The
solution to whatever discord the PDP rent takers are trying to build is to ensure that the people of Abia state begin to witness a transformation in their standard of living in equal measures as soon as we assume office.
With the benefit of the last election, especially in Abia state, what is your take on zoning and rotation of political offices. Is it to blame for the heightened tension in Abia state?
First the idea of zoning is very outdated and actually helps to divide the state rather than unite it for the benefit of all. It breeds mediocrity and clannish tendencies. My take is that every group should use their best human resources for the benefit of everyone. Zoning limits the potential of the group. Let the best man for the job get the job regardless of the village he comes from.
How would you respond to insinuations that you are desperate to be governor, considering your defection from PDP to APGA and the manner in which you have gone through this campaign and election?
I am not desperate to be governor. I may be desperate to liberate Abians from the deplorable situation the PDP governments have led us into. They expected to intimidate and frustrate us into abandoning the mandate of the people but we have been resilient against all imaginable odds. We have painstakingly done everything within the bounds of the law, the desperate ones are those who wrote fake results for some wards and local governments and forced them into the collation centre, those who invaded the INEC headquarters in Umuahia, those who burnt down INEC offices in Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa, those who dropped coffins and used armed thugs to prevent people from coming out to vote in areas where they thought they were going to lose. These are the desperate ones not us.
Many people say Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu started well and has turned parts of Abia into huge construction sites. How would you assess the events of the past seven months in Abia?
Parts of Abia have been turned into construction sites only on paid newspaper adverts fueled by rented social media propaganda. The same thing his predecessor did throughout his tenor in government. State development goes beyond knee jerk reactions to whip up momentary media sentiment in anticipation of a rerun that should not happen. We have a blue print for the sustainable development and establishment of institutions for Abia state. Even after we leave office, the template will still serve any government that desires the wellbeing of Abians. This is the kind of structure we bring to the table.
If and when you are sworn in as Abia governor, what outstanding projects will immediately attract your attention and would you continue in the development strides already set in motion by the PDP administration?
We have a well‐researched blue print on how we intend to reposition the state towards the path of sustainable development. Our approach will include rebuilding institutions, kick‐starting the economy to create jobs, providing the enabling environment to attract businesses back to the state and once again,
making Aba the commercial center South Eastern Nigeria.
Are you in any way disturbed that if you are declared governor, the votes of a sizeable population of Abians will not count in your victory due to cancellations? The voter strength of Obingwa, osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North is said to be in excess of 300,000.
The very loud PDP minority who talk about disenfranchisement of some Voters are only being purposefully mischievous. It is important to note that what the Appeal court voided were fictitious numbers that the PDP thugs and cronies smuggled into the electoral process. They are not valid votes.
Like the learned justices said, taking those votes into consideration in determining who wins the election can only be compared with counting the dead and the living in a census process.
Finally, It is being whispered that you are already inching close to the ruling APC. Do you intend to abandon APGA in the near future?
The PDP will continue to breed rumors regardless of how unfounded as long as they think it will give them any advantage. These are all laughable allegations from people who are grasping straw. This allegation from PDP is a pointer to how it ruled this country in the last 16years. Otherwise, how else can one explain the allegation of the ruling party influencing judgements? Again, when the lower tribunal gave judgement in their favour, APC did not have a hand in it, but when they lost at the Appeal tribunal, the ruling party got involved. My reaction is that these are the outbursts of a sinking party and should simply be ignored.
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