Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has restated “his long-standing position” that he will retire from active politics after he is done with the governorship.
Mr Otti insisted that he has no presidential, vice presidential or senatorial ambition, according to a statement issued by Ferdinand Ekeoma, the governor’s special adviser on media and publicity, on Friday, 19 December.
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Mr Ekeoma stated that the governor gave the explanation on 19 December at Government House Umuahia, while reacting to a viral video, in which someone was berating him over his recent visit to the jailed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu at the Sokoto Correctional Centre, alleging that he is nursing presidential or vice presidential ambition after the end of his tenure.
A Federal High Court in Abuja, in November, sentenced Mr Kanu to life imprisonment for terrorism.
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Mr Otti, while acknowledging that divergence of opinion is part of democracy, said everyone is free to hold an opinion and that such opinion may not be right.
“In the first place, that is the beauty of democracy. So people should hold their opinion, and we respect people’s opinion. And that you hold a different opinion doesn’t mean you are right.
“One of the things he talked about was my ambition after being governor.
“And I had said it before, and I want to say it again, that by the time I’m done with governorship, I will retire.
“So I don’t have presidential ambition, nor vice-presidential ambition. I also don’t have senatorial ambition when I finish with the governorship.
“I came on a mission, and when I deliver that mission, I will give way for younger people. So he was talking of Igbo presidency. I don’t even understand what that means.
“I think if his thesis is based on that assumption, the assumption has collapsed, because he won’t see me on the ballot,” Mr Otti stated.
According to him, it is important for a public official to know when to quit.
“When you have done what you have been asked to do, you must take the exit door and give way for other people. We’ve seen people here, after being governor, who went back to become local government chairmen. That’s not what we are here for. We are not cut out for those kind of things.”
Why I visited Nnamdi Kanu – Otti
Governor Otti used the opportunity to explain his reasons for visiting Mr Kanu in Sokoto Correctional Centre.
“The second point is about Nnamdi Kanu. And I don’t want to put this matter in the public space so that it doesn’t derail the discussions that we are having.
“The truth about it is that exactly 24 months ago, I opened up discussions at the highest level on Nnamdi Kanu.
“And going to see him is the right thing to do, because he comes from my state. In fact, he comes from this Local Government (Umuahia North, the Abia State capital).
“And there are always different ways to solve a problem. I don’t believe that the way to solve a problem is to ignore it. And I had written extensively, even about Nnamdi Kanu and Operation Pyton Dance, I think in 2017 or 2018. And I condemned it.
“And I still condemn it. I cannot vouch for some of the recordings that the gentleman put in his video, where he said Nnamdi Kanu called for mutiny, I don’t know about that! But then, I do know that two wrongs do not make a right,” the governor explained.
Governor Otti said he knows that when an issue has been approached from the legal point of view, there is also another window, called “the administrative point of view”.
“I’m not a lawyer. And if the judiciary says the man has been sentenced to life imprisonment. That is certainly not the end. Because that’s the court of first instance, there’s still an opportunity to appeal, and then an opportunity to even go to the Supreme Court.
“But what we are trying to do is to intervene. I’m not a supporter of the disintegration of Nigeria.
“So my position is that it would be insensitive of me to sit here and say one of our own, who has been convicted, should die when we have an opportunity to discuss, negotiate, and sue for peace. Even people convicted to death can be pardoned. That’s what I’m working on. It has nothing to do with non-existent presidential ambition. Everything is not politics.”
