An Aide to Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, Christian Anokwuru, has stated that the opposition’s plotting to unseat the governor in 2027 is merely chasing shadows.
Mr Anokwuru, a Catholic priest, is the special adviser to the governor on Policies and Interventions.
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He said this during a news briefing in Umuahia on Sunday.
Mr Anokwuru was reacting to the spate of criticisms and vicious media attacks against the governor by the opposition in the state, including former Orji Kalu of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Mr Kalu, a former governor of the state, is a senator.
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PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Mr Kalu recently vowed to do all within his powers to deliver Abia to the APC in the 2027 general elections.
The governor’s aide said that it was absurd for the old political leaders who allegedly ruined and underdeveloped the state to think they would return to power, riding on President Bola Tinubu’s “might”.
He mocked the opposition politicians for “dropping the president’s name and banking on his achievements”, rather than citing the legacies they left behind during their time as governors.
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He said, “It is a long-established principle in both law and public life that anyone who demands equity must come with clean hands.
“This principle is particularly relevant in the current political climate in Abia State.
“When former governors and past political office holders, whose administrations are still fresh in the collective memory of the people, congregate to challenge the present administration of Alex Otti, the public is entitled to interrogate not just their claims, but also their credibility.”
He said that everything about the opposition’s supposed criticism against Mr Otti’s administration was “rested on Renewed Hope”.
“It is expected that an opposition made up of past governors and political office holders should build their argument against a sitting government based on their own achievements in the past, rather than relying on name-dropping of President Tinubu and Renewed Hope,” he said.
‘Opposition essential to democracy, but…’
Mr Anokwuru also said that opposition is essential in a democracy, when it is credible and constructive rather than destructive and deceptive.
“It serves as a check on power, sharpens governance, and protects public interest.
“However, opposition loses its moral force when it is driven by selfishness and bitterness rather than facts, and by personal resentment rather than policy-based critique,” he said.
He frowned at the recent posture by the Abia opposition, saying it “appears less like constructive engagement and more like a coalition motivated by animosity and political survival and relevance.
“More concerning is the heavy reliance on the perceived might of President Tinubu as the backbone of the opposition.
“Opposition politics should be built on ideas, track records, and alternative visions, not on borrowed federal influence.
“When individuals, who should speak from the strength of their own achievements, instead lean on external executive power, it signals an absence of substance.
“Federal proximity cannot substitute for local legitimacy, nor can it erase the lived experiences of the people under previous administrations,” he said.
Mr Anokwuru expressed delight that the president reckoned with the governor as “one of the best performing governors in Nigeria, if not the best” and had continued to support him rather than endorse the propaganda by the opposition.
He said that Abia deserved “an opposition that is intellectually honest, fact-driven and rooted in the welfare of the people.
“Anything short of that is not opposition in the true sense, but a reactionary alliance struggling to remain relevant in the face of changing political realities,” Mr Anokwuru said.
He argued that constructive opposition points out gaps, proposes solutions, and holds leadership accountable in a manner that ultimately benefits the state, without undermining the government for its own sake.
“When opposition shifts from principled criticism to deliberate misinformation, it ceases to be a democratic asset and becomes a personal vendetta.”
Governor Otti, over the weekend, urged Abia’s residents to ignore recent meetings and criticisms by opposition politicians, describing them as “noise” driven by selfish interests rather than concern for the welfare of the people.
(NAN)
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