Will Alex Otti be Lucky after Third Attempt?

For the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Abia State, Alex Otti, things are looking up. Polls are in his favour. Will he maintain the momentum to fulfil the change the people of the state are yearning for? Asks Vanessa Obioha

Things may be looking up in Abia State where the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Alex Otti, has been projected to win the 2023 elections in the state. An opinion poll conducted by NOI Polls and commissioned by ANAP Foundation in October suggested a two-horse race between Otti and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Uchenna Ikonne, who came a distant second with a score of nine per cent.

Gregory Ibe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) came third with four per cent, while Ikechi Emenike of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came fourth with three per cent.

“The results showed a significant lead for Otti with 20 per cent of voters proposing to vote for him if the governorship election were to be conducted today; nine per cent propose to vote for Uchenna Eleazar Ikonne (PDP) who fell in second place and Gregory Ikechukwu Charles Ibe (APGA) was third with four per cent of voters proposing to vote for him,” reads a statement by ANAP foundation, announcing the result of the poll.

Eyinnaya Nwafor of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), and Mascot Kalu of the Action Peoples Party (AAA) came fifth and sixth, scoring two per cent and one per cent respectively.

The statement added that although Otti’s 11 per cent lead at this early stage is significant, it is not sufficient to separate him completely from a “leading pack” of candidates. The result also showed that about 34 per cent of the respondents were undecided while 25 per cent refused to disclose who they would vote for in the election, an indication that Otti’s lead, according to the poll, is reversible.

“Undecided voters and those who prefer not to reveal their preferred candidate add up to a whopping 34 per cent and 25 per cent respectively. The gender split of undecided voters shows that 40 per cent of women are undecided versus 30 per cent of male voters,” ANAP said in its statement.

The poll results in each of the three senatorial districts of the state put the percentage of registered voters in each of the districts at 84 per cent in Abia North, 91 per cent in Abia Central, and 95 per cent in Abia South.

“When asked if respondents were aware of the various candidates vying for Governorship, data gathered showed that 76 per cent of the respondents were aware of Otti of the LP and Ikonne of the PDP, 68 per cent were aware of Emenike of the APC, and 54 per cent were aware of Ibe of APGA. All other candidates scored below 50 per cent in terms of name recognition,” the group said in the statement.

The researchers said the top five reasons voters were more inclined to vote in the governorship election include: “Fixing of bad roads (33 per cent), infrastructural development (26 per cent), payment of salaries (14 per cent), job creation/unemployment (nine per cent) and security (five per cent).

“Thirty-five per cent of the respondents would love to see their preferred governorship candidates participate in a televised interview and/or debate, with the interview/debates spanning across topics like their party manifestos, agendas, capability check amongst others.”

The poll showed that almost seven in 10 registered voters are absolutely certain that they would be voting in the governorship election, an indication there could be a huge turnout of voters in the election.

“It is worthy of note that 44 per cent of those aged 18-25, 91 per cent of those aged 26-35, 92 per cent of those aged 36-45, 97 per cent of those aged 46-60 and 89 per cent of those aged 61+ responded they would definitely vote in the coming elections. The age groups that expressed the greatest willingness to vote were those between 36-45 and 46-60 years.”

Otti first sought to govern the state in 2015 when he squared up in a keenly contested election with the incumbent, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu under APGA. Ikpeazu was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

But in December 2015, an Appeal Court sitting in Owerri, Imo State nullified the election and declared Otti the winner of the April 2015 governorship election. However, the Supreme Court eventually quashed the judgment and upheld Ikpeazu’s election as governor.

Similarly, in 2019, Otti also contested the election and lost out to Ikpeazu. Shortly after the election, Otti defected to the ruling APC. Not wanting to dwell in a party engulfed by crisis, he left for the Labour Party.

Many analysts believe that Abia has not been particularly fortunate to have a governor that will put a smile on the faces of the people since the enthronement of democracy in 1999. According to them, from Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Orji to the incumbent Okezie Ikpeazu, it has been leadership failure in all sectors.

The state has severally been rated as the worst not only in the southern part of the country but the South-east. While Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu and Anambra seem to be making progress in all sectors, Abia is seriously lagging behind.  Even salaries are hardly paid to civil servants despite benefitting twice from at least, the Paris Club refund running into billions of naira specifically meant for that purpose and huge allocations from the Federation Account, and the 13 per cent derivation.

Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) painted a gloomy picture of maladministration in the state in a written message to Governor Ikpeazu, complaining of the plight of the workers in the state being owed arrears of salaries. In the letter, the labour movement said that it was unfortunate that Abia State was turning out to become one of Nigeria’s most worker-unfriendly sub-national governments on account of the huge salary debt it owed workers.

The letter signed by NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said: “It is on record that the Abia State Government owes workers and pensioners in the following establishments: Local government employees – three months’ salaries. The staff of Abia State University Teaching Hospital  (ABSUTH) – 23 months’ salary arrears; secondary school teachers – 11 months of salaries; primary school teachers – three months salaries; pensioners in Abia State 30 months’ pension benefits; and  pensioners in the judiciary sector owed pension benefits from February 2021 to date.”

NLC also said that workers in Abia State Polytechnic were owed 30 months’ salary arrears, while workers in Abia State College of Education have 29 months’ salary left unpaid and workers in Abia State College of Health Sciences five months.

While chronicling infractions committed by the state government against the workers, NLC said the approved CONHESS was yet to be implemented in Abia State from May 2021 to date. It added that it is on record that the NBTE withdrew the accreditation of the Abia State Polytechnic recently.

“The list of infractions against workers in Abia State goes on and on. We use this medium to call on the Abia State government to invest the resources of the state in settling the huge arrears of unpaid salaries, allowances and other entitlements owed workers and pensioners in the state rather than pursuing shadows and silhouettes in both public and private media within and outside the state.

“In the event that the Abia State Government continues to play the ostrich with the lives of workers and pensioners, the Nigeria Labour Congress will be left with no option than to deploy the full weight of the power of trade unions and workers in the country,” NLC said.

For Otti, this is the third time he is contesting to be the governor of the state. In 2015 and 2019, he was robbed of his electoral victory by the cabal who wanted the status quo to remain because it benefits them.

Like in 2015 and 2019, most of the people of the state are yearning for change. They are sick and tired of the political domination by those who do not mean well to them.

Besides, there is a consensus even among PDP faithful that the administration failed in providing infrastructure and good governance in the state. To make matters worse, Otti, a former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc, has a very strong message which resonated with the majority of people of the state despite political affiliation. He spelt out in very clear details, the state of his dreams.

Like in 2015 and 2019 when he contested for the same position and lost, Otti is pained that nothing has changed. Instead, things are going worse. For this reason, he has vowed not to take a salary, but serve free of charge if elected governor of Abia in the 2023 governorship election. He also explained that he would rather donate his salary to humanitarian and developmental causes that would benefit the less privileged people in the state. The ex-bank chief promised to ensure good governance and reduce the cost of governance to free funds for the development of the state.

He said: “If you elect me your governor in 2023, I will serve you for free, I will take no salary for the duration of my government. I would rather donate the salary to humanitarian and developmental causes that will benefit the underprivileged people in the state. The cost of governance will also be reduced to the barest minimum. The money of the state will be used to work for the state. There would be no room for sharp practices capable of denying the people good governance.”

Assuring the people that he has the capacity to move the state from the era of bad governance to prosperity, Otti said: “You have started a movement which no cabal can stop. We are the party the majority of people who deserve good leadership in the state are looking for. The symbol of our party is human beings. I, therefore, urge you to join me as we work hard to win the 2023 governorship election and make life easier for our people.

“We shall move in with courage to upset the backlog of unpaid salaries, stop insecurity, bad roads and poor health care delivery because we all have what it takes to make a difference. We will activate industrialisation in the state to move our people to prosperity, through education, and agriculture policies and reduce rural-urban migration.”