• ‘Two Goliaths have been slayed’
Abia State Labour Party’s Governorship Candidate in the March 11 elections, Dr. Alex Otti, has described the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections as the turning point in the state’s political odyssey.
Otti, who described the results recorded in the state as sign of a new trend in Abia State politics, said the elections have dismantled two Goliaths, who, hitherto, held the state down.
Speaking while receiving two victorious Labour Party National Assembly candidates, Senator-elect, Darlington Nwokocha (Abia Central) and House of Representatives member-elect, Ginger Onwusibe, (Isialangwa South and North), in his home, Otti said more of such political Goliaths will still fall.
Otti congratulated Nwokocha, Onwusibe and five other Labour Party candidates, who have just been elected to the House of Representatives.
The other elected officials are Emeka Nnamani, Aba South and North; Munachim Alozie, Obingwa-Osisioma-Ugwunagbo; Ibe Okwara Osonwa, Arochukwu-Ohafia; Amobi Ogah, Isuikwuato-Umunneochi and Obi Aguocha, Ikwuano-Umuahia.
Labour Party in Abia State won six Federal Constituency seats, out of eight, and one out of three senatorial seats at Saturday’s National Assembly election. Otti said: “There may have been attempts by some political brigands to thwart the will of the people, but overall I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that the results coming from Abia largely represent the will of the people.
“Today, in Abia, two Goliaths have been brought down. I can assure you that more Goliaths will still be brought down. At the last count, I believe we have six out of the eight House of Representatives seats and that calls for celebration.”
Otti’s reference to two Goliaths brought down could be a reference to outgoing governor of Abia, Okezie Ikpeazu and the out-going Speaker of the state’s assembly, Chinedum Orji, son of former governor Theodore Orji, both of whom lost their elections to the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively.
Otti told Nwokocha and Onwusibe that their victories deserved and commended them for working hard in their campaigns. He, however, admonished them not to take the confidence reposed in them by their constituents for granted, as, according to him, power has now returned to the people.
“People have reposed confidence in you and handed a mandate to you. You have a responsibility to deliver on that mandate and if you don’t deliver, the people will either recall you or they would vote you out. So, what we have seen now is that power has returned to the people,” he said.
He urged the victorious candidates to gear up as the party prepares for the governorship election. He said: “We are just 12 days away from March 11. This is the day we will seal everything. If we worked hard last Saturday, I will like us to know that we will need to work five times as hard.” Speaking earlier during their visit with a large crowd of ecstatic supporters, Nwokocha and Onwusibe thanked Otti for his support and for being the leading light of Abia renaissance.
“We have come to our Leader to tell you that we are back and that we have counted all the soldiers and there is none missing,” Onwusibe said. “Your Excellency, I want to, on behalf of Abia Central, congratulate you for having very strong voices that will feature in the green and red chambers of the National Assembly. I told you sometime, severally, when we were about setting out, go and campaign in Abia South, Abia North, leave Abia Central for me.
“Your Excellency, I want to tell you that the Abia Central people are comfortable to have you as governor. Each time we set out for campaign, we knew quite well that the product that we have that will lead this state is the one that will give the state all it wants. And I can tell you as a ranking member of the National Assembly, there is nothing you will be looking for, as far as Nigerian budget is concerned, that this man here cannot provide.
“You’re so lucky, so, so lucky that the man that is running away from the Government House (Governor Okezie Ikpeazu) performed so abysmally. So any little thing that you put up as infrastructural development will be so obvious and very well accepted that the people may wonder if you’re a magician,” Nwokocha said.
