The Igbo have an adage that says one who was absent during a burial will find it difficult to know where the head was placed in the event of an exhumation. Because of that, I won’t blame Ferdinand Ekeoma, the Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Media and Publicity, for the insult he heaped on my person in his press release of December 4th, 2025, entitled “GOVERNOR OTTI’S VISIT TO PRESIDENT TINUBU AND CHIEF CHARLES OGBONNAYA’S MISPLACED AGGRESSION.”
If he knew my history with Governor Alex Otti, he would not have allowed himself to indulge in that verbal haemorrhage to the extent of alluding to my comments on national issues as childish, even after acknowledging my age. I won’t curse him the way I cursed Abia PDP ahead of the 2023 election for the twin reasons of his young family and the fact that he is merely a vacuous messenger. Because I can’t point to his rich antecedents outside being a repeater station of the master station, let him be for now.
I do not know if Otti had time to go through the trash written by his media adviser before it was published, but the assumption is that the governor authorised it and should therefore take responsibility for it. Unlike Ekeoma, who chose to suffer amnesia by refusing to address issues but ended up engaging in what is called argumentum ad hominem in logic, I will painstakingly address the issues factually without allowing emotion to get the better of me.
Firstly, Alex Otti came to me for support. I never contacted him. I have never been hungry, and I will never be hungry. I have no reason to beg him for money or favour because I am content with my legitimate earnings as a farmer. I belong to the APC and he belongs to the Labour Party if he is still a member. If I left PDP for APC, Otti left PDP for APGA, left APGA for APC, and thereafter moved to the Labour Party. After Atiku failed to win the presidency, I didn’t know whether Otti wanted me to resume in the man’s house instead of going back to my farm. These are facts.
Another indisputable fact is that after I parted ways with PDP for its failure to keep to the letter of the Abia Charter of Equity which required that the governorship be zoned to Abia North l publicly cursed the party. I was opposed to Ngwa producing another governor after Okezie Ikpeazu’s eight-year tenure. This was based on my principles because I am from Abia Central and not even Abia North.
After that courageous act of mine, Alex Otti visited me in my home seeking my support for his governorship ambition. He didn’t visit once or twice but a record five times. He came with his wife. He came with Engr. Chibuzo Esihe and Acho Obioma. He came with Mazi Ugochukwu Okoroafor and Kazie Uko, his former press secretary.
When he first sought my support, I told him bluntly that I would not support any Ngwa man to succeed another Ngwa man so soon after Ikpeazu. Dr. Alex Otti told me that he was not an Ngwa man but an Aro man from Arochukwu Local Government, which is in Abia North. It was only when he disowned his Ngwa ancestry that I reluctantly agreed to support him. His entire five visits were captured on video, including where he played the Judas. I may be forced to release it for public consumption if he persists in his infamy. However, let it be on record that I have nothing against Ngwa land or her people. Most of my friends are from Ngwa.
Let me be clear: my position was not driven by animosity towards the Ngwa people, whom I hold in high esteem and consider valued friends, associates, and allies. The Ngwas are my closest set of friends, business associates, and political allies, and I cherish the bonds of friendship and solidarity that we share.
The imperative of ensuring rotational leadership and promoting inclusivity in Abia State’s governance architecture informed my position. It is essential to prioritize the collective well-being of our people over narrow partisan or ethnic considerations and to ensure that our leadership reflects diversity and balance.
It was in the course of these visits that I reconciled Otti with the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji (Ochendo). It was also during those visits that I brought in members of the Umuahia Political Forum. The 54-member body reached an agreement with Otti that they would work for him and the Labour Party during the governorship election. In the agreement, which was endorsed by both parties, Otti was to cede certain positions to them. Through the instrumentality of the Umuahia Political Forum, Otti scored 27,000 votes in Umuahia. That was how he defeated me in my ward because I worked for the Labour Party and not PDP. It was not a secret.
On the day of the election, when PDP wanted to compromise Obingwa LGA, Alex Otti knows the role I played to thwart it. He knows what Dr. Philips Nto, whom I introduced to him, did to ensure that the results were not compromised. Has he fulfilled his own part of the bargain to all these people or to the Umuahia Political Forum? The answer is no. So what is the meaning of betrayal in Ekeoma’s dictionary? All my children are gainfully employed, having received the best of education as professionals.
As for the Agbozu Cocoa Farm agreement which Otti vindictively revoked and turned around to hand over the farm to his deputy, here are the facts: there was a valid agreement between the Abia State Government and my company. The terms of the agreement were strictly adhered to by my company, while the government failed in its obligation to provide access roads across the farm. From day one, all financial obligations on the part of my company were fulfilled. Not a kobo was owed to the government.
Dr. Alex Otti, upon assuming office, took me and my company to the panel on recovery of government property. My personal vehicles were seized and remain in government custody. Instead of waiting for the outcome of the panel report, Otti maliciously revoked the agreement. Ekeoma said compensation was paid. Yes, a paltry N65 million was given to me as part payment based on the agreement we reached, as against the higher amount my company spent on developing the farm as attested to by valuers. Why did he even pay the money, knowing who he is, if the government was not at fault? Is the government Father Christmas that it dashes money to people?
The farm, which was established in 1962, was completely abandoned over the years. My company revived it, and it started producing seven tonnes of cocoa before the forceful takeover. Since it was handed over to the deputy governor, it has not produced anything. I am not bitter. I know how to go about getting the balance of my payment at the appropriate time.
To insinuate that I am attacking Otti because of that action is missing the point.
Unlike Otti, who is driven by inordinate ambition and presumptuous ego in his decisions, my intervention in governance issues is to seek clarity, transparency, and accountability. Why was Otti in a hurry to take over the reconstruction of Umuahia–Ikot Ekpene Road when the contract had already been awarded by the federal government and work was ongoing, though not at high speed? There are hundreds of state roads in deplorable condition, yet they do not merit the attention of the governor. Why is he attracting attention to this particular road? Even at that, what is the state of the road one month after the elaborate flag-off ceremony? Has he disclosed to Abia people the cost of the project? How was the contract bidded and awarded? People want to know. It is this call for transparency and accountability that grates Otti’s nerves.
Now, to the vexed issue of our son, Nnamdi Kanu. Otti is playing to the gallery. He is playing politics with the unfortunate condition of an Ibeku son. He wants to use the name of our son to feather his nest ahead of the 2027 general election. If he was so concerned about the fate of Nnamdi Kanu, why did he not make it an issue in 2023 or even before, as a private citizen?
When Senator Abaribe talks about Nnamdi Kanu, we relate to it because he is not an opportunist like Alex Otti. He has been consistent with his demand for the release of Nnamdi Kanu. He took him on bail once when others were afraid to do so. Even after his rearrest, Abaribe spoke against the unjust action by the federal government. Let Alex Otti show us one clip of evidence where he condemned the unjust incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu before now.
He claimed he went to Abuja to see the president on behalf of Nnamdi Kanu. Why didn’t he address a press conference at the Villa to state the purpose of his visit? That is the standard practice. I repeat, let him not play politics with Nnamdi Kanu’s unfortunate situation.
As for this newfound capacity of Dr. Alex Otti that has suddenly made him more popular than his master, Peter Obi, it is only time that will tell. The famed capacity couldn’t make him governor in 2015 and 2019. Ingratitude is a chronic disease. Alex Otti continues to run away from the fact that he could never have become governor if PDP didn’t implode in Abia State as a result of mismanaging zoning and if he was not a beneficiary of the Obi wave. His puerile attempt to move to APGA (not APC, as Ekeoma falsely ascribed to me) will ultimately determine how far he can go. For now, Otti should leash his attack dogs before I blow open his political Pandora’s box.
