Shun Gov Otti’s Invitation To Commission 1 Project, Don Tells Tinubu

Professor Moses Orji, a former political ally of Abia State Governor Alex Otti, has asked President Bola Tinubu not to honour the governor’s invitation to commission only one project.

The president is reportedly scheduled to visit Abia State on Friday to commission the 6.5-kilometre Port Harcourt Road in Aba, which the Governor Alex Otti administration rebuilt.

Reacting to the development through an open letter to the president, released to newsmen yesterday, Prof. Orji said: “It could even be in the personal interest of Governor Otti that the president doesn’t come now. Perhaps Otti needs time to put his house in order.”

According to Orji, it is not enough to drag the president of the Federal Republic just because the governor’s cousin is a federal minister and ‘one of those who has the ear of Mr President.’

“In which state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the president gone to commission just a single completed project, and nothing more?

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“Why would Mr President go to Enugu State to inaugurate seven (7) different key projects completed (by a fellow first-termer with Otti), and then feel the same sense of duty to be called upon to inaugurate just one in Abia?

“Why would the president go to commission the dazzling wonderland called Funcity, built by Governor Soludo of Anambra State, and not ask us questions about the whereabouts of Abia’s ‘Recreational Facilities’, which was completed last year at the cost of over N7 billion but is nowhere to be found?

Or do we think the presidency is not aware?

“Why would we want to drag the president into our numerous cases of ‘flag-offs’ when work has not commenced on any of the previous flag-offs?  What about our flagged-off seaport, fertiliser plants, refineries, etc, at the proposed Owazza Integrated Industrial Park? Has anybody seen the feasibility study report or the environmental Impact Assessment Report of any of them? But they have been flagged off.

“What about the pensioners proposing to come out in their numbers to make their case before the president? What are we going to tell Mr President? That we are the only state in the South East still owing Pensioners their arrears. What would be our governor’s excuse for wanting Abia pensioners to forfeit their earned pensions when our monthly inflows have quadrupled?”

While accusing the Otti-led administration of employing propaganda and brinkmanship, Orji recalled that the governor nearly pulled off a similar stunt about a year ago when he tried to drag Governor Sanwo-Olu of Lagos to Abia State.

“Our governor wanted his colleague from Lagos State to come and commission a 200-metre track road (Yellow Avenue) on the outskirts of Aba, a street leading to the private residence of one of his business friends. Of course, his intended guest caught wind of it and refused to show up.

“I am therefore of the opinion that this make-believe approach to scoring dubious political points by an administration that is grossly underperforming should be exposed and discouraged.

“For example, what if the president decides to have a breather at the Government House, Umuahia, which has a presidential lounge? Would Mr Otti tell the president to follow him to his private residence at Isiala Ngwa? Remember, the president is not coming on a social visit? Or would our governor tell his August guest that tortoise, vulture and other animals were used to lay the foundation of our Government House?

“Again, the Abia ‘Medical City’ at Owerrinta is within the precincts of our Owerrinta Rice Complex.

What if the president decides to have a glimpse of the ‘Owerrinta Rice Mill. The proximity of the ‘two projects’ could tempt the president to kill two birds with one stone.”

Orji stated that Abia State has been wallowing in the morass of propaganda and brinkmanship while states like Enugu and Anambra have taken a quantum leap forward.

“Yet we may not have learnt our lessons as our governor continues to fire broadsides at his predecessors, and as he continues to blame the rate of the dollar to the naira for the inflated value of his contracts,” he noted.