Governor Otti Should Stop Being Too Clever By Half, Thinking He Could Deceive President Tinubu.
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Saturday (Eke) 24-01-2026.
The most dangerous enemy is the one that is so close to one that one has deep trust in him or her. It happened in one of William Shakespeare’s Plays, Julius Caesar, where Caesar cried, Et tu, Brute?, when, to his astonishment, he watched Marcus Brutus, a man he had always thought was his bosom friend, was among his assasins.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, by virtue of his education, exposure and experience is not expected to be a victim of some people’s craftiness.
The Governor of Abia State, Dr Alexander Otti, appears determined to stick to his membership of shaky Labour Party. As a man who naturally loves to dictate, he will not be comfortable being in a Political Party where there will be competition in leadership. Though Labour Party is shaky because there seems to be legal knots surrounding the Party’s structural depth, he would prefer being there just for purposes of dominance and self protection. All the same, no body can predict with exactitude how long it may take to untie those knots.
Entreaties have long been made to the Abia State Governor to rejoin the All Progressives Congress, APC, by some well-meaning leaders of APC in Abia State but he has refused to give a listening ear to that call. His reasons are obvious, as stipulated above.
It may have to be recalled that Otti, probably driven by inordinate ambition, had, within a period of only eight years, 2014-2022, enlisted in membership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, All Progressives Congress, APC, and Labour Party, LP.
All most all Local Government Council Chaimen and Councillors in Abia State under him are in Zenith Labour Party, ZLP. If that is added, it would be five Political Parties. In some quarters he could be perceived as an inpatient unstable character, membership of four Political Parties with a short period of eight years.
Governor Otti may have given President Tinubu the impression that he will work for his re-election in 2027 but this is not true. He is only trying to pull the wool over the President’s eyes. If Governor Otti were sincere to Mr President, what would have prevented him from rejoining the APC and openly show himself as a strong ally of the President. Does the Governor lose anything by rejoining the President’s Party? He loses nothing.
The truth of the matter is that Governor Otti is giving behind-the-scene support to his former School Mate at University of Port-Harcourt, former Governor of Rivers State, and former Nigeria’s Minister of Transport who constructed a Railway Line from Nigeria to far away Maradi in the Niger Republic, completely ignoring his own Enugu-Port-Harcourt Line, His Excellency, The Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
There is no point for President Tinubu to trust a Governor who hates his Party. The ancient English proverb, “He who loves me, loves my dog”, easily comes in handy here. Why should the Abia State Governor pretend to be a friend of President Tinubu when, in actual fact, he hates the President’s Political Party and has disdain for the supporters of the President? Is he better than the State Governors of Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, and, most recently, that of Kano States that have openly defected to APC from their former Political Parties, in order to give fully fledged loyalty and support to Mr President? Why must Governor Otti’s style of support be characterized by ‘hide and seek’? He is surely not sincere to Mr President!
Simply to put the unwarranted ambiguity of support to rest, it is, hereby, pointed out that the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State has all it takes to deliver President Tinubu and the APC reasonably comfortably in 2027 General Election, with or without any input from Governor Otti. By the way, more than 80% of Otti’s supporters owe their Presidential loyalty to somewhere else. Otti can not persuade them not to look towards that direction.
The likes of former Governor of Abia State and ranking Senator representing Abia-North Senatorial District, His Excellency the Most Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Deputy Speaker of 10th House of Representatives, The Rt Hon Ben Kalu, CFR, former Governor of Abia State and Most Distinguished Senator T. A. Orji, (Ochendo), Member representing Ukwa-East and Ukwa-West Federal Constituency in the 10th House of Representatives, Hon Chris Nkwonta, former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Chinedum Orji, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, APC 2027 Governorship Aspirant, Sir Mascot Uzor Kalu, Prince Paul Ikonne, Chief Henry Ikoh, and many others bubbling with passion and strength in the State, will seamlessly deliver Abia State to APC in 2027.
Enough of this deceit!
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd, and a Chieftain of All Progressives Congress in Abia State.
