Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said he will not seek to influence who succeeds him after his tenure, insisting that the choice of the next governor should be made by the people of the state.
Otti made the declaration on Thursday at the Labour Party State Secretariat in Umuahia while receiving the 2023 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Dr Ngozika Gladys Johnson-Chukwunenye, who defected to the Labour Party.
The governor said he would complete his second term in 2031 and retire from politics, adding that he had no interest in becoming a political godfather or seeking a seat in the Senate.
Otti said, “What I can assure you is that by the time I am done, the person that will succeed me will be better than me. I don’t want to be a godfather.
“I don’t tolerate godfathers. So, some of the people are making noise because they will tell you to do this, and I say I will not do it. Sometimes when I say no, they will go back and be digging for something.
We will all sit down, look at everybody and say, who is the best person for this job? And then all of us would agree. And we will campaign for him. He will win. We will take a back seat.”
He also said he wanted younger Nigerians to take over leadership, arguing that the next generation was already being equipped to assume responsibility.
The governor said, “I am not interested in any other thing. I don’t even want to go to Senate. I am not interested. Once I finish this one, I will retire. Why do I say so? I want the young people to take over.
“You will see young people between the ages of 16 and 25. You will see how smart our children are. So, these are the people that will take over from us. And they are being trained now for tomorrow. So, we can never go back.
We should stop this sit-tight syndrome. There are smarter, more trained, better trained, better equipped younger people – our children. We need to give them opportunity. And that is what is important to us. It is not about money.”
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Otti, while responding to criticisms from his opponents, maintained that his administration had transformed Aba and Umuahia and was extending its projects to other parts of the state.
“I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that we have literally restored those cities – Aba and Umuahia. And we are now moving into the hinterlands. And we will continue until we reach everywhere.
“Some dogs that are barking, we just ignore them. After barking, some of them will lose their voices. But then the ones we can cure, we will help to cure them.”
He also commended Johnson-Chukwunenye for contesting the 2023 governorship election, describing her decision to seek the state’s top political office as courageous, particularly as a woman.
Johnson-Chukwunenye, who spoke earlier at the event, said she joined the Labour Party after observing developments under the Otti administration and deciding to support the governor.
She pointed to the payment of outstanding salary arrears, regular salaries for workers, attention to pensioners and road rehabilitation in Umuahia and Aba as some of the developments that informed her decision.