By Godwin Adindu
What I find very comforting is that everyone, both friend and foe, both faithful and the opposition, converges on the opinion that Governor Alex Otti has done well for the Abia people. Our people say that you don’t need a mirror to see what is tied to the wrist. After admitting the first fact, one or two might raise a counter based on the fiscal inflow into the state. The argument is usually that Otti receives many times more than what the previous governments received.
Okay. Let us accept the counter. But the truth is that he has judiciously ploughed back that excess into Abia. He has created a difference, and it is very clear. He didn’t have to share it with the power barons, as was the case in the past. No cabal diverted a huge sum for themselves.
No emergency millionaires and emergency philanthropists have emerged. Nobody has been cleared out of the way (murdered) to pave the way for monies to be siphoned. There are no alternate Governors and an alternate power cartel. The buck stops on Otti’s table, and he has applied the wisdom of an economist to allocate scarce resources.
Oh, yes! Abia is better under Governor Otti. Both man and spirits are testifying to this truth. I love to hear that first phrase before the subordinating phrase. And the joy is that everyone is testifying to it. I refuse to defend with the logic of the time value of money. I insist that Otti has shown class and taste and has deployed money to give Abians the best.
When I see the large-scale rebuilding of the government infrastructure, the new-look Micheal Okpara Auditorium, the new-look SSG building, the new Governor’s office and the Governor’s lodge under construction, I feel satisfied. Not to mention the roads and other public infrastructure.
When I see the new-look Umuahia Capital City, the new-look Aba City, then I feel happy and satisfied that Abia resources are being very well utilised. The old proverb captures it all: You don’t need a mirror to see what is on the wrist.
If only the opposition could appreciate the immutable law of change, the constant flux, then they would realise that the Otti phenomenon is just a transmutation of the law. Otti is therefore a change-agent, destiny’s emissary, posterity’s handyman.
Truth again is that this handyman understands his commission. He understands his mission, and he is intentional about the brief from the invisible forces of change.
The Otti phenomenon has shown me that our people are truly men of good conscience. They know the truth. They acknowledge the truth of Abia’s progress in the hands of Otti. The open denials and counters are simply politics.
They exemplify the dirty nature of politics… a game where speaking the opposite or speaking from both sides of the mouth is the norm. Thank you, my people, for that open confession about Abia’s progress and transition.
