Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Otti, says Abia State will not be the same again by the time he has done eight years as the governor of the state.
Otti stated this on Friday while speaking at Oloko Central School, Oloko, on the second day of his campaign tour of Ikwuano Local Government Area, preparatory for the March 11 governorship election.
“By the time I finish my tenure in eight years, because I will do two terms, you will not recognise the state anymore,” Otti told the ecstatic crowd who had turned out to meet with him.
He assured the Oloko people that his government would wipe away their tears with meaningful infrastructural development and empowerment of their women and youths.
“I can see, without you even saying it, that you need roads. Look at the environment where we are. I believe this is a secondary school. Look at the buildings, how dilapidated, overgrown with grass. I attended public school here in Abia many decades ago and it was not anything like what you have here.
“We should be moving forward and not backward. I will want our children to have the opportunity that I had to go to school in Abia. Our government will provide a conducive environment for our children here in Oloko to learn,” Otti assured the locals, some of who said they just wanted to catch a glimpse of the man who has remained the major opposition to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The LP governorship candidate, highly favoured to win the Abia gubernatorial election, advised the Oloko people not to be deceived by politicians, who will come to them to canvass for votes by giving them money, few cups of rice and Indomie noodles, and thereafter disappear.
“Anybody who comes to tell you to vote for them, ask them where they had been since 2015; ask them what they have said concerning the hardship and bad leadership that this PDP government has subjected the people in past 24 years, and especially the last seven years.
“Do not be deceived by whatever they call themselves, they are all the same. They will come and lie to you that they are different from PDP, the people who have destroyed Abia, don’t believe them, they are one and same. Only Labour Party, where you have a picture of three persons – Mama, Papa, Pikin – is different,” Otti said.
The Alex Otti campaign team was also at Ariam-Usaka, a remote part of the state on the border of Akwa Ibom, where he encouraged the people to “weep no more” assuring that “help is on the way.”
He reiterated his promise to empower enterprising women and youths through disbursement of interest-free loans to further their businesses. He told them to come together and form cooperatives for ease of disbursement of the loan.
“Depending on what you’re doing, we will give you the same amount you have invested in your business. For instance, if you invested N100,000 in your business, we will give you another N100,000; if you invested N200,000, we will give you additional N200,000.
After one year, you will repay the money without interest and it will be given to another person. It’s going to be first-come-first-served,” Otti announced to the appreciative crowd that met with him at the community’s square.
On the campaign tour with Dr. Otti were his running mate, Engr Ikechukwu Emetu; the State Campaign Council Coordinator, Hon Iheanacho Obioma; the LP candidate for Ikwuano-Umuahia Federal Constituency, Hon Obi Aguocha; Ikwuano State Constituency candidate, Hon Boniface Isienyi, and other party executives and members of the campaign organisation.