It is so irritating that some mischievous elements in the deservedly dying Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from the Ngwa axis in Abia State have continued to tease the Governor of the State, Dr Alex C. Otti (CON) with the issue of whether or not he is a full-blooded Ngwa person. I saw a recent Facebook post on this issue, with the picture of an unnamed political yokel used to illustrate it. The identity profiler was quoted as threatening to publish a video where Otti allegedly denied his Ngwa identity.
Happily, the scores of comments that followed the post dismissed it, saying that even if Otti was from Kazakhstan or outer space, they would vote him again in 2027. Sometimes, some of our Igbo brethren behave as if they are not from us. Why have we allowed the virus of group identity politics to infect the fabric of our unity? This is partly why a state like Abia wallowed in darkness for 24 years until Otti assumed office 29 months ago. Nasir el-Rufai originally hailed from Katsina State but ended up governing Kaduna State for eight years. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is an indigene of Ogun State, yet he is in the process of completing his eight years as Governor of Lagos State.
Otti’s great grandfather migrated from Arochukwu to Umuehim in Isiala Ngwa ages ago. His father was a pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and teacher. He served the people and a built a home for his family. Alex grew up between Umuehim and Aba to be told he had ancestral roots in Arochukwu. When he became a bank GMD, the people of Arochukwu and Ngwa land swiftly took ownership of him as their treasure which he had become. After the immediate past Eze Aro, Ogbonnaya Okoro, amidst contingents from many Aro communities honoured Otti as “Ugwu Aro” in 2008 or so, the same honour was also conferred on him by all traditional rulers in the entire Ngwa land in 2014 at Nsulu. I attended both ceremonies among other mutual friends. He also firmed up his equal belonging to both sides by building grand country homes in Arochukwu and Ngwa. Today, pending the completion of the new Governor’s Lodge in Umuahia, he resides as Governor in Umuehim, Isiala Ngwa.
Nobody complained about Otti’s clan identity until he bowed to our pressures, embraced politics, vied for governor and rescued Abia State from the grip of rapacious political vultures. The campaign to question Otti’s Ngwa belonging was nothing but a low-ball strategy designed by Abia PDP leaders to estrange him from Ngwa people, more so as the PDP governorship slot, which had been “enjoyed” by leaders from Abia North and Abia Central, was now the turn of Abia South back in 2015. They were so desperate to distance Otti from Ngwa voters that they dumped coffins at major crossroads in Aba in 2015, with the message: BETRAY NGWA INTEREST AND DIE. Otti still won that election as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, but the result was hijacked on live television at the collation centre in Umuahia by prominent PDP leaders.
He has always maintained that he does not believe in identity politics, and that he does not run as an Ngwa man or Aro man. His political ambition is based on his merit and track record. He believes that a woman does not have to claim “I am a woman” to be woman. That someone is a woman should be obvious to all who have eyes. And since Otti won his election, he has also demonstrated his theory in practice by abolishing the “indigene-settler” dichotomy in Abia State. He knows that a commercial and industrial-branded state like Abia cannot achieve its objectives by discriminating between people. He appointed non-indigenes as Mayors in some local government areas and made an Edo indigene, Benson Ojeikere, Head of Service of Abia State, all based purely on merit.
This and other qualities of good governance have helped to almost magically transform Abia State in the critical sectors – infrastructure, health, education, business and others. Identity politics will no longer win elections in Abia State. The people have seen through the trick. The door has been shut on the faces of booty-sharing buccaneers for good. If hugging transformer will not be enough to solve their problem, let them try banging their heads.
Good governance is all the “stomach infrastructure” that good citizens need. If your government gives you 24 hours of electricity, smooth, excellent roads to run around for your livelihood, establishes primary health centre in your ward, transforms schools into smart schools, offers your children free education and brings investments from all over the world to provide jobs for the youth, what other “stomach infrastructure” beats those?
Every vibrant democracy needs quality opposition, not nit-picking hungry comedians. Let’s hear the issues. Hold your government to account without lying with figures. Expose corruption, if any. Let your past records speak for you. Dropping Tinubu’s name with nothing else to show will not win elections. Just as they did in 2023, the Abia electorate will decide in 2027. They have married two husbands – yesterday and today.
They know who to return to.
It is still her…
Our First Lady is trending again. She has carried herself quite well since they entered Aso Villa. Even when an Islamic cleric, Idris Tenshi, called her, an RCCG pastor an “infidel” deserving death for being married to a Muslim, she and her husband never reacted.
This was Remi Tinubu, who practically brawled with Dino Melaye on the floor of the Senate, was caught on video telling a female hawker: “We don’t trust Igbos…”
Going to tell Governor Jackson Adeleke of Osun State to stop being himself on a day she was being honoured by the Ooni of Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi, was not exemplary at all.
She should apologise.
The post Politics of Gov Otti’s Ngwa identity, by Ochereome Nnanna appeared first on Vanguard News.
