OPINION: Five Popular Myths Debunked By Otti’s Commissioning Of Omenuko Bridge

On Friday, February 13, 2026, the new bridge over Igwu River was commissioned and formally opened for public use by Governor Alex Otti in Abam, Arochukwu LGA.
Constructed in the mid-1950s, the bridge began to show signs of deterioration around 1970s and 10 years later, by the 80s, things had gotten so bad that many considered travelling through the bridge a suicidal idea and they had some data to back their claims.

The revered man of God, Dr. Uma Ukpai lost family members, and then traders, drivers, farmers, students and others quickly followed.

Foe decades, the horror, the nightmare, persisted. Politicians made promises and then forgot whatever it was they said.
Governments erected signposts to say OK, soon, we shall do something and that was the end.
There was even a famous fight about who attracted the small signpost.

Last year on a trip to Abam for a project, I was told that the community even gave one former governor of the State a large expanse of land just to motivate him to fix the bridge.
And yet, as our fathers would say, whoosaii.
Nothing changed, or rather, things got worse.
The land, now turned into a palm plantation, still stands in the community as a testament to the treachery of the past and transactional mindset of past Abia leaders.

Last year at the project flag off, a prominent son of the land narrated how he made gift of cars to 2 former governors of the State to appeal to them to fix the bridge.
They took the vehicles and then ignored the big man.
The chronicles of Omenuko represent, in a certain way, the story of neglect, abandonment and deceit that characterised politics in Abia before the Alex Otti era.
Well, God, using His servant, has set us free from the greed and dishonesty of the old Abia politicians.

A new era is here and today in Abam, a different chapter in our history would be opened.
For the purpose of remembering, ncheta, I have noted 5 myths that would be shattered by the events of today and I go thus:

1. Evil spirits and ghosts were not responsible for the neglect of the past: Yes, spirits play a certain role on the terrestrial plane, they are responsible in part for a number of events, good and ugly, and it does not matter what you believe, you just feel the outcome. But again, human beings are also partly spirit so it is also within our powers to set the shape and texture of events. While there may have been spirits at some places making demands, those spirits were not entirely responsible for the decades-old miseries at Omenuko. Greed, insensitivity and lack of will were the architects and Dr. Otti, by constructing an entirely new bridge over Igwu River, has demonstrated that spirits don’t stand in the way of a determined leader.
2. Lord Lugard, his girlfriend, the amalgamation of 1914, the structure of Nigeria and certain tribes and principalities are not responsible for the freezing of development in Igboland. Several groups rose to prominence by persistently blaming others for the poor shape of things in Igboland. The radio and social media crusades quickly took a life of its own, turned violent, and then cost the lives of thousands of individuals particularly young men and women of our land over 2 decades. Think about the tragedy and the cost in human lives and material values. Over lies and wicked propaganda that only enriched the architects and impoverished others. The reality many of us were never willing to accept is that we had very terrible set of leaders at all levels before now. Remember that I once asked: was any political leader here ever stopped from evacuating refuse heaps, paying salaries, providing sources of clean water or building roads by Lord Lugard or the ethnic group we love to demonise? So we have been fed lies by charlatans who know next to nothing. The whole truth is that our only development challenge in Igboland had always been bad leaders. Imagine that for more than 40 years, Omenuko bridge was in bad shape and 3 governors who ruled Abia State before Dr. Otti had zero response. How about the senators, HoR members and the rest? What did they do? They simply collected their shares of the cake and walked away. Or perhaps also joined in blaming Lord Lugard and his girlfriend for our woes, more than 100 years after.
3. Leadership is a distinct variable, not a continuous one, you either have it, or you don’t. Evidently, not everyone can lead and the proof is in our experience in Abia before Governor Otti. Yes, we had governors, there was money and yet, certain critical problems remain unsolved, year after year. My conclusion then is that contrary to popular view that anyone can lead or perhaps that leadership can be learned; leadership actually is a peculiar gift, given to certain persons which can then be developed through practice and exposure. If however it is not in you, then you just forget about it. Of course you can pretend, but if you don’t have it, then you cannot show it.
4. All politicians are the same. Lie. All politicians are not the same and with the construction of a new bridge over Igwu River, it has now gone beyond dispute that honesty, credibility and commitment to execution matters, especially in politics. Dr. Otti, you can say without any trace of equivocation, is not your regular Nigerian politician.
5. You need to be aligned to the “centre” to make an impact as a leader: Weĺl, this State was aligned to the centre for years and what did we get? Same old idle stories. And now we have a Governor who understands autonomy of vision and purpose. And now everything is changing. The Otti administration has given a lie to the cock and bull story popularised by sycophants that you cannot function anywhere as a political leader unless you strip yourself of dignity and become a court jester all over the place. Indeed, we hit a goldmine with Dr. Alex Otti.

Dodoh Okafor is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Alex Otti on Public Communication.