Why Abia Has Fallen In Love With Alex Otti, By Ifeanyi Amanze

“Aba ma ndi Aba (Aba knows its own people)”, the cheering crowd yelled as Alex Otti waltzed through Ariaria market; a characteristic smile playing on the corner of his lips.

“Alex Otti Ka anyi ma (Alex Otti is the one we know)”, a sea of locals chanted in Ohafia a few days later as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate made a campaign stop in the community.

It is this collage of fawning and adoring supporters that leaves hack writer, Madubuko Hart, uneasy. “It is an erroneous view of any observer to quantify the noise that Otti is making in the media called campaign as being that “he has in abundant goodwill across the state”, Hart, now on the throes of an apoplexy, purred in his article titled:“Olusegun Adeniyi misfires on Abia”. Still unable to come to terms with the fact that one of the country’s finest columnists had literally called the Abia Governorship election for Otti, Hart belted his familiar rhetoric; one we’ve come to associate with his watery opinion pieces: “Otti whom Adeniyi has extolled beyond the fairness and balancing of report as is obtainable in journalism, knows that he is dead politically just on arrival; he knows that he cannot win election in the state, because he lacks the political sagacity and dexterity”.

This is where we have to help Madubuko Hart. This is the point where we save Madubuko Hart from himself. The cross-country appeal Otti is garnering from eligible voters in Abia State has nothing to do with a media blitz or a PR gimmick. Everywhere Otti has showed up in the State on his campaign stops, he’s articulated a clear vision for the State which he will begin to implement come spring. Like a fine school teacher, Otti never fails to lay out his blueprint on remaking Aba and Ariaria into industrial and economic clusters, mechanizing Agriculture in the State and improving healthcare and education across the State. The messaging has been constant and recurring. It is this attention to detail and policies that has endeared the APGA candidate to Ndi Abia, who can now spot a politician who means what he says because he has thought it through, from the herd of pretenders jostling for votes in Abia.

Hear Alex Otti on his plans for the chaos that Aba has become: “In my interaction with fellow APGA members, I spoke about our plans to build three flyover bridges in Aba. These flyovers will be located at Abayi (near Ngwa High School), Port Harcourt road and Ogbor Hill (near Enyimba hotel). These bridges will decongest traffic in the city, as well as create alternative routes for those going to Port Harcourt and Enugu, saving them precious time as they go about their businesses”. Crystal clear and unambiguous. No “Is/was”.

Hear Otti on Ariaria market which now passes for a pigsty: “We will relocate the popular Ariaria market. The truth is that the popular market has now become an eyesore. Our plan is to build a new Ariaria International Market across the express road. This new Ariaria will be a world-class shopping mall, and all occupiers of the present Ariaria that bring valid, verifiable papers for their shops will get new, air-conditioned shops in the mall”. Why wouldn’t the folks in Ariaria hail and call him their own?