Excited by the massive infrastructure development in Abia, the former governor of Rivers State and former Minister of Transport, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi Saturday, has mandated the Abia State Governor, Alex Otti to disclose his source of funding over the massive projects in the state.
Amaechi handed down this mandate to Otti in Aba after a guided tour of the University of Port Harcourt University, Class of 80s, of road projects by the state governor, starting from Umuahia to Uzuakoli, through Ohafia, Bende, Umuahia road particularly, Omenuko new bridge to Port Harcourt road, Aba and advised the Labour Party, LP in Abia, and Abians in general to go home and prepare to vote in Gov. Alex Otti for a second term, come 2027 or be prepared to miss him.
Amaechi who led a delegation of Gov. Alex Otti’s year mates from the university stated at Aba, said, “The question to ask is how is he getting his money?. You talk about him being prudent, I said I know that he is an economist but that is not enough. Where did he get the money to be able to execute these projects because I know that one of the complaints, and I know it is genuine complain, that some of these governors from the smaller states make, is that they don’t have money. And it is true, they don’t have money.
“Alex must tell us where he is getting money. I told the Permanent Secretary that they should not shy away from borrowing money. If he borrows and he is able to do things, then the next governor will not have to borrow to do anything, because Otti has been able to satisfy the infrastructure requirement of the state”.
Speaking on the quality of Port Harcourt road, he said, “Good quality, it is good he has Julius Berger. I worked with them. I worked with Julius Berger on the Warri-Itabe Railway, I worked with CCECC on the Lagos-Ibadan Railway I worked with them on the Port Harcourt-Aba Railway. They are good.
“Seeing is believing. This is incredible, the Port Hacourt Road. The last time I came here, was when we came to campaign for former President Muhammadu Buhari. We had to walk from one shop to another. There was a whole lot of refuse and then gullies, not potholes
“For him (Otti) to transform this place to what it is, then we must congratulate him. It doesn’t end in ‘Oh, the governor has worked hard’, it ends with you going out, on the day of election to go and vote him back so that he will be able to finish his assignment”, adding, “On the Omenuko Bridge, the Federal Government is noted to not rehabilitate or maintain their roads all over the country. So what governors have done was to intervene.
“Infact what I saw there, that is the old bridge, was almost like a death trap. Not only was it narrow, it was like a bridge that happened during the civil war. Now again, you ask yourself why was that bridge left like that all these years?. Again I heard that people died there in the 70s and 80s and it was left like that. I won’t be a governor and that road would be like that. It will be one of the first things I will do. Again it is just Otti’s responsibility as the governor of Abia State
“You will ask whether those who came before him were not governors of Abia. They should have been able to shoulder that responsibility. I congratulate him for that”
Earlier Friday night while the state was hosting the former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in a dinner in Government House, Amaechi advised the Labour Party, LP in the state and Abians in general, “The next thing I want to say to you is, go home and start preparing for 2027. You may not know the import of this speech. Let me tell you, the import. The import is that you may not know the quality or how bad the government is until you participate.
“You will begin to miss Alex if he doesn’t win 2027. If you don’t go home to prepare for the next election you may loose, especially now that APC and the rest are trying to prepare. So I pray that all of us will go home and protect what we have and ensure that we come back in 2028 and enjoy the same dinner you are having now”.
Responding to Rotimi Amaechi’s remarks at Port Harcourt road, Aba, on the source of fund for the governor, the Chief of Staff to the governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, “As an economist and everybody has secrets Beyond whatever thing anybody can say you can not take its away from him that he is prudent. He has zero-tolerance for corruption and whatever thing that comes, if you must spend the end result must be justified
“So what we are seeing today is prudence, intergrity, good governance, and I believe that if other governors can borrow a leaf from him, I think Nigeria will be a better place. Everyone that is working with Governor Otti knows what he wants and he supervises everything and monitors every dime to make sure that there desired end result is what is expected.
“So that people are asking where he is getting the money from – it is the same allocation like everybody and again prudence, intergrity and then visionary leadership is what you are seeing playing out in this new Abia under Gov. Alex Otti”
