A support group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia state, Abia Best Interest Association (A.B.I.A), has asked the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party(LP) to stop talking about Indonesia, China and other countries but focus on his party’s state government in Abia.
The group said that instead of looking to other countries for a model of how Nigeria should be governed, Obi should prevail on the Abia state governor, Alex Otti, to show accountability on some of his projects.
It specifically challenged the Abia state LP government to publish the list, location, contractors and pictures of the purported 51 public school projects for which over N54 billion had allegedly been spent between the first and fourth quarter of 2024.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the group led by Hon. Eze Chikamnayo, said Obi does not have the temerity to criticise any government if the only state being governed by his party is also indicative of impunity, lack of transparency and accountability in Governance.
He said: “If we talk about accountability at the federal level and we refuse to talk about it at the state and local government levels, we make ourselves hypocrites, and it undermines the essence of good governance in Nigeria.
“We have a message for Mr Peter Obi. He is galvanising Indonesia, going to India, and even going to Egypt to look for a model for how he thinks Nigeria should be governed. I say to Mr Peter Obi, stop the hypocrisy. You don’t need to go to Indonesia or anywhere in the world. Mr Peter Obi should go to Abia State. This is the only Labour Party (LP) state in Nigeria.
“He should go there and ask Mr Alex Otti how the N54 billion meant for education has been taken for Smart schools, and no single school is to be found.”
Chikamnayo also declared that people who say Governor Otti is not beatable are building castles in the air. He will be replaced at the 2027 polls by a competent hand within the APC who will ensure that President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is spread to the grassroots in Abia state.
He thanked President Tinubu for ignoring Otti’s invitation to commission some projects last week in Abia; hence, his coming would have canonised the governor’s alleged corruption and charade.
Chikamnayo said anyone who thinks of cooperating with Otti to continue his alleged impunity in Abia state by joining the APC through the back door is daydreaming.
“Therefore, we will replace Mr Alex Otti in 2027 with the APC government to ensure the Renewed Hope Agenda is spread to the grassroots in Abia State.
“People who say Alex Otti is not beatable are building castles in the air. Mr Alex Otti knows within his heart that he is entirely using the machinery of media propaganda and manipulation to create an image that doesn’t exist.
“The reality in Abia state today is that Abians yearn for liberation and must pass in 2027. Alex Otti will be roundly defeated in 2027 because Abia people are tired of his rule…,” he said.
