2023 Guber: Otti Names Running Mate, Inaugurates Campaign Council

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti, has formally presented his running mate to the public and also set up a campaign council to drive his quest for the state’s top job.

At a ceremony in his campaign office along Bank road Umuahia, Otti named Mr. Ikechukwu Emetu, a 38-year-old youth from Ohafia as the deputy governorship candidate. 

He chose a former House of Representatives member, Chief Nnanna Ngwu, to head the campaign council.

In his past outings in the governorship race, the renowned economist and former bank chief executive had run with a woman, Mrs. Uche Eme Uche also from Ohafia, but this time around, he opted for a youth as running mate.

He explained that his choice of a youthful deputy governorship candidate is a deliberate decision as his desire is to provide inclusiveness for Abia youths in the political arena.

Otti also stated that he settled for Emetu because of his “outstanding community development service and humanitarian gestures in his Ohafia Local Government”.

According to the governorship hopeful, his chosen running mate “fits squarely into the characteristic and quality of the kind of deputy that I yearned for”.

On his campaign council, Otti said that the team was constituted to drive a robust and result-oriented campaign that would lead to a successful outcome for him and his party.

Emetu, in his remarks, accepted his selection to be the deputy governorship candidate of LP and thanked Otti for finding him worthy for such an exalted position.

“This opportunity is not only for me but for millions of Abia youths,” he said, adding that Otti has “made us to believe that the future truly belongs to the youth”.

Speaking on behalf of the campaign council, the chairman, Ngwu, promised that the team would work assiduously to ensure victory for the party in the 2023 polls.

He appealed to members of the council to be committed to the project and shun divisive tendencies and anything that could work against achieving their set goal.

The Archbishop of Methodist Church Umuahia Diocese, Most Rev. Chibuzo Opoko, who was a special guest of honour at the event, expressed satisfaction with the high level of political consciousness currently sweeping across the nation.

“I am particularly happy over the active involvement of the nation’s youths to take back their country,” he said.

He called for concerted efforts to save Abia and Nigeria at large from the yoke of economic retardation, widespread poverty, infrastructure deficit, unemployment and general insecurity.