Otti Defends Appointment Of Varsity’s Teaching Hospital Board Chairman

Abia State governor, Alex Otti, has defended his appointment of the wife of House of Representatives deputy speaker, Chinyere Benjamin-Kalu as chairman of the State University Teaching Hospital Management Board.

Otti stated this at an event in Umuahia, the state capital, saying his appointments ensure that the right people are entrusted with responsibilities that impact governance and service delivery.

He observed that what influences his choice of appointments of people in various capacities is what they can offer and not where they come from or their political affiliations.

His words,  “I think I hear some noise left, right, and centre. I’m sure the people don’t know that I personally interviewed and had chats with seven candidates for that role.”

“And the lady that we chose did not only come first, but the difference between her and the candidate that came second was so wide.”

“And this happened last year. We were waiting for an opportunity to reconstitute the board, given that the chief medical director of the hospital was leaving.

‎”So, having now reconstituted the board, we believe that it was only proper for us to give the job to the candidate that came first.”

‎He argued that the government did not mind whether Benjamin-Kalu belonged to All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party or Young Progressives Party.

‎Speaking further, Otti maintained that those conditions are not important as the government does not care whether she’s from the state, Delta, or anywhere else.

‎”We’re interested in what is in her brain. We,’ re interested in the contacts that she has. And one of the things that stood her out from the other six was the international contacts she has.”

‎”Here, we’ re open to anybody. Just come with what is inside your brain. We don’t want to know where you come from. We don’t want to know your political affiliation.

‎”When the time comes for voting, you can go and vote for whoever you want to vote. But here, we want results. We want performance,”  the governor added.