Abia: Alex Otti, Born To Lose

 

Why Abians Rejected Him

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Alex otti, the candidate of APGA in the April governorship election in Abia state is a consummate businessman and banker who believes he can get whatever he wants.

As the Managing Director of now defunct Diamond Bank, he was believed to have achieved milestones in his capacity as the chief executive.

But that’s all to it.

Since he retired from the bank, the Abia born businessman has been trying to make something out of politics.

But after entering the murky waters of politics by contesting for the governorship of his state, he must have realised that politics is not his calling.

So far, he has been unsuccessful in two consecutive attempts, he took a shot at the Abia government house.

Last week, his hope of ruling the state was further dashed by a court of Appeal in Owerri, Imo state, which threw out his appeal against Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Owerri, the Imo state capital, headed by Justice R.A Adah, struck his appeal and validated Governor Okezie  Ikpeazu’s election.

A three-man panel sitting in Umuahia, the Abia state capital, led by Justice A.L. Ogumoye, had earlier dismissed the petition filed by Otti.

The tribunal ruled that the petitioner failed to prove the case of over voting, non-compliance to the INEC election guideline and electoral act.

The petitioner had prayed the tribunal to cancel fifteen out of the seventeen local government areas election results in Abia State.

Otti claimed that the respondents, PDP, and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of PDP, perpetrated excessive malpractice in those LGAs.

Not satisfied with the tribunal judgment which threw out his petition, Otti approached the appellate court asking it to quash the tribunal ruling and declare him winner.

Meanwhile, Otti appears not ready to accept the judgment of the appellate court.

He has vowed to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion.

“On Saturday, the 17th of November 2019, a Governorship Appeal Court panel sitting in Owerri, Imo State, upheld the very controversial and questionable election of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as governor of Abia State,” Otti said.

On his part, Governor Ikpeazu said his opponent should accept the verdict as the will of God for the people of the state.

But whatever next line of action the APGA candidate chose to take, the magazine learnt that he’s not likely achieve his aim of having the victory of Governor Ikpeazu reversed.

According to various sources who spoke with the magazine, the former banker has continued to delude himself thinking that he’s still very popular among Abia people.

Meanwhile, his popularity has waned, drastically among the Abians since he first contested the governorship in 2015.

Those who know in the state informed the magazine that the First Class, Economics graduate from the University of Port Harcourt does not have what it takes to be a successful politician.

A member of APGA in the state told the magazine that Otti does not know how to manage people to achieve for himself a successful political career.

The politician disclosed that “as long as he continued to carry on like he knows everything he will never achieve what he wants in politics.”

The source further explained that “ the opportunity he had in 2015 was that the PDP candidate was being foisted on the people and Abians voted against him to protest their dis approval with the idea of lording a particular candidate on the people of the state.”

Most Abians, the magazine also learnt believe that the former boss of Diamond Bank has not always made himself available except during election time.

“He’s among those we described as Lagos politicians. The only time you see them is when they want to ask for our votes.

How many times did you see him in the state after the Supreme Court reversed the verdict of the court of appeal that he did not win the election that Governor Ikpeazu was the one Abians voted for?”

“Nothing works that way,” said Chigozie Godswill, a businessman in Aba, adding that “Abians will no longer vote for strangers whose interest for joining politics, is to work for themselves and not for the people.”

It was further learnt that the politician had committed to some philanthropic activities in the state, ahead his entrance into politics before 2015 general election.

But after the election ended much had not been heard about his support for those projects, the magazine was told.

“Most people in the state believe that he deceived them. But after they found out who really was, that he’s like any other politician, they withdrew their support for him. Once beaten twice shy. You can see that the number of votes he got reduced drastically compared to 2015. Our people are now wiser,” said Chinyere Orji, a trader in Umuahia, the state’s capital.

Otti’s reputation among his staff is nothing to write home about.

Some of his staff in Lagos said the man is not what he preaches to be.

According to hints from his office in Lekki where he now operates a consultancy business, The Source was told by some of his staff that he’s not kind and that. They also accused him of highhandedness.

One of his employees, who spoke in confidence, said “his human relation is not very impressive. Some of us that work for him are only doing so for our daily bread.”

A member of his campaign team disclosed that they are working under severe condition. ”He will promise to make fund available for projects, but those promises are hardly met.

In fact working for him is extremely difficult because of the perception that his team is not managing him well and that we are responsible for his governorship failure.

But the truth is that we cannot work with our teeth. He doesn’t make funds available. Politics is an extremely difficult profession: you need to be able to commit your money and time,” one of his aides said.

Close watchers of Abia politics told the magazine that the columnist cum politician cannot win election in the state, more so when his party is no longer popular.

Thus after losing twice to the incumbent, his future in politics, analysts insist appears very bleak.

Thus after losing twice to the incumbent, his future in politics, analysts insist appears very bleak.

Efforts to get Otti’s response to the issues through calls and text messages made to his telephone lines were unsuccessful.