Time Out For Abia PDP

Dr Alex Otti 

AS the chicken comes home to roost in Abia State, all those who played God in the April 11 gubernatorial election and resultant election tribunal are today licking their wounds. This is because the Court of Appeal, Owerri has, rightly, pronounced Dr Alex Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) the true winner of the governorship ballot. Even before the Court of Appeal’s historic verdict, there was little doubt in the minds of the people, about who won the poll and who lost. The PDP and its candidate were roundly trounced. They lost election because, the out-gone governor, Theodore Ahamefule Orji, who went with the ridiculous title of Ochendo Global, whatever that means, had made a total mockery of governance.
He failed to take proper care of the needs of the people of the state: he did not give them jobs while those who held jobs were hardly paid their salaries and allowances. The only functional tourism site in the state – the National War Museum – situated in Amafor Isingwu Village in Umuahia North Local Government Area, T A Orji’s constituency, is not accessible. The in and out roads leading to that village and the War Museum are among the worst in the state. The cities and villages became refuse dumps as the so-called Ochendo Global paid scant attention to environmental matters. The state of neglect in other parts of the state far from the governor’s zone has been widely reported in the media.
With all these negative track records, how could the PDP have won in a free and fair election? The end has justified the numerous petitions and complaints since Abia State Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave their dubious verdict after the polls. The unquestionable will of God has triumphed over the shenanigans of mere mortals. The long-suffering people of Abia State have been handed a new lease of life. Victory has crowned the yeoman’s efforts of all those who made sacrifices to effect the desired change. People who paid dearly as a result of a recalcitrant government, and all those who held on to hope, knowing that the future was greater than the past. A new era will soon commence that will mark the transformation of the industrial city of Aba into Africa’s Dubai. These were what Dr Otti promised during the campaigns. That and others are certainly what the good and misgoverned people of Abia had been primed with as gift.
There is no question that he will deliver, because his antecedents are positive and obvious to all. In offering to serve, Otti was put through hell, together with his political party and their teeming supporters. Using the power of incumbency, the self-acclaimed Ochendo Global, who turned Abia to a monarchy, sent his goons across Abia with predictable negative results.
The INEC staff who were expected to be above board as adjudicators of the election and impartial umpires compromised themselves, their offices and the sacred trust reposed in them. All these happened for the single reason that the powers-that-be wanted to win the elections at all cost, despite the fact that we are under a supposedly democratic setting. INEC’s complicity in the irregularities that marred the elections was even underscored by the Chairman of the electoral body, Prof Attahiru Jega, by his admittance that some of his staff members behaved disgracefully in Abia State. We must thank God and the Court of Appeal for coming to the rescue of the state, by prying it from the stranglehold of greedy and reactionary folks that wished to keep it perpetually in bondage. But despite all the misinformation and disinformation by those who wish Abia ill, the will of God has been done by the actualisation of the true electoral mandate of the people, as the Supreme Court is certain to uphold the unanimous verdict of the appeal court.
As the crushing defeat inflicted on PDP government of T. A. Orji and his bandwagon has been upheld by the Court of Appeal, justice has been done, and the impunity of his frustrated yahoos scuttled. The party of infamy that visited suffering on Abia people has been sent packing. It shows that whether or not the wicked admits it, power ultimately belongs to God, who alone gives it as He pleases.
May Almighty God grant His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti the wisdom of Solomon, to enable him lead the people of Abia out of gloom into sunshine and abundance, which is the portion of God’s own people.