Abia Govt Moves to Scuttle Otti’s Campaign Flag Off, Restricts Access to Venue

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Barely 48 hours to the flag-off of the governorship campaign of the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti, the state government, has moved to scuttle the event billed for Ngwa High School, Aba, by restricting access to venue.

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, his running mate, Sen. Datti Baba-Ahmed and the national chairman of the party, Julius Abure, were billed to attend the event.

But the state commissioner for information and strategy, Mr. Eze Chikamnayo, in a statement, yesterday, announced that the venue already chosen by Otti for the November 10 rally would no longer be available.

He said government would not allow “properties of the people of Abia State entrusted into the care of government such as school facilities, stadia and valuable public premises, to be destroyed in the guise of politics.

“No responsible government will stand by and watch such facilities as they are willfully vandalised and degraded by sadistic elements with malicious interests disguising as politicians. 

“The unscrupulous  acts of these lawless individuals and groups jeopardize the efforts of government at all levels to provide succour to our children and citizens for whom those facilities were established.”

He however, reeled off the conditions for using the premises of a secondary school, insisting that both the Secondary Education Management Board and the relevant local government chairman must give “written consent”.

For primary school premises Chikamnayo said, “in addition to notifying the security agencies,  the written consent of the Education Secretary of a Local Government and the Executive Chairman of that local Government must be duly sought and obtained”.

It was gathered that preparations for the Abia LP gubernatorial campaign flag off was already in top gear before the information commissioner threw spanner in the works.

Special Adviser to Otti on media and publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, had in a statement announced that high ranking national party officers, dignitaries and friends of Alex Otti from all walks of life would grace the event.