Alex Otti: When Basic Governance Feels Like A Miracle

The simplest definition of democracy as a system of government is that it is the government of the PEOPLE, for the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE. That is how Abraham Lincoln summarized it, and it greatly captures it.

When Christ in the Bible commanded us to love our neighbours as much as we love ourselves, that is because it is presumed that everyone wants the best for themselves, and if you love your neighbours as much as you love yourself, you’ll not treat them wrongly.

If assuming the aim of our leaders in coming to power is to better their own lives, and they love their neighbours as much as they do themselves, the result is that as they better their own lives, they will use the instrument of their office to better those of their fellow citizens, because they love them as much as they do themselves.

The above is different in Nigeria, and every opportunity to grab power or stay around the corridors of power is seen as an opportunity to grab wealth. This is the reason people get appointments to COME AND WORK, and they first go to church to throw lavish thanksgiving.

I was in Aba recently, and can attest that Dr Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State is an example that citizens are not asking for too much from their leaders. Just give them the basic things of life and you can go ahead and steal them blind. What is wrong is eating continuously and not giving at all to the people.

During my visit, I moved from Ariaria through Faulks Road, Omuma, Osusu and Okigwe Roads, down to Azikiwe Road and finally to Ahia Ohuru in Ngwa Road, and traders and residents alike were full of praise for their governor. Those I spoke to had the same testimonies, and it was heartwarming that they could appreciate the little the governor had given them.

Is Alex Otti feeding them milk and honey and stocking their kitchens with food stuff? No! But the love is massive. What did he do differently to earn the love of Abia people? He only gave them a little of what governance is all about. Good roads, cleared drainages, renovated schools, better and healthier markets and just things like that. I’m not sure he visited any family and gave out money or begged to be loved. Abia people love him because they have seen someone who could give what looked only like promises in decades.

One trader I spoke to was emphatic. “Even if Alex Otti refuses to contest again, we will force him to contest and he will win. Even if they lied that he stole the entire Abia, we will still vote for him.”

True to his words, there have been accusations against Otti, mostly by loud mouthed aides of former governors and their principals. Those are people who had an eight-year opportunity to do just a little of what Otti has done in less than three years, but never did.

Politics will always be politics so it is understandable for them to want to discredit Otti, but here I suspect envy, that one diminutive gentleman could dwarf giants.

That is why you will hear complaints like, “Otti is only painting the roads I built”, “He is running Abia from his private home in the village”, “Soon Abians would see how much Otti has borrowed”, and all manner of childish allegations.

To the average Abia indigene or resident, it doesn’t matter if Otti lived on the moon and administered the state from there. What mattered is that he is delivering and the results are showing. They care less if he borrowed, so long as he shows what the monies are used for. For those saying he is merely painting the roads they built during their tenure, I can only say – if painting already built roads will make them motorable, Otti should intensify efforts and paint more roads that they abandoned.

Meanwhile, let me tell you that the entire Ngwa Road, which used to be a rejected area, has been painted. Port Harcourt Road, Ohanku Road and several others that were impassable have all been either painted or undergoing painting.

Citizens don’t ask for too much. There is a saying that you can’t miss an experience you haven’t had before. Most citizens have never gone on vacation abroad, they have never had the experience of driving exotic cars and going for dinner in some exquisite places around the world. They only seek that the hospital in their neighborhood be okay, that there be food in their kitchen, their roads motorable for them to transit to their business places and back in one piece. That is what Otti is giving them.

Thankfully, these citizens far outnumber the nouveau riche who stole the state blind, living in castles and promising things they have had opportunities to give but could not. This is why Alex Otti won’t even bat an eyelid as 2027 approaches. It doesn’t matter the party he belongs to, what matters is for the people’s votes to count.

-Eleke, an ABU (Aba Brought Up), is the Anambra State correspondent of THISDAY Newspaper.