Otti gets Certificate of Return, urges others to support him

The 2015 gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Alex Otti has received his Certificate of Return after he was elected by members of his party to fly the flag of the party in 2019 general election in the state and country at large.

Dr. Alex Otti, speaking on Tuesday after being handed over his Certificate of Return from the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Victor Oye at the APGA national secretariat in Abuja however appealed to members of the party to join forces with him in order to collectively defeat the PDP led government come February 2019.

 Otti, urged them to bury their grievances in the interest of growth of the party.

Speaking at the occasion attended by the National Working Committee, NWC, and candidates under the party, Otti said: “Let me appeal to everyone who participated in this process to understand that it is the wish of God that happened.

“I would like to use this opportunity to welcome them and appeal to them to join forcers with us to ensure that we get to that place that God has destined for us.

“Yes, it is not unexpected that when people go into a contest, and lose out there will be bitter and sometimes hurt, but we must also realise that in a contest that it is only one person that wins. And because one person has won does not mean that others that participated did not do well.

“If you did not win today, tomorrow is another day. But if you destroy the platform and the structure that will deliver you, then tomorrow may not come. 

“So, I’m using this opportunity to first of all apologise to everybody at every level, from contestants at the House of Assembly in different states under the platform of APGA, to the gubernatorial  and senatorial aspirants who did not make it to become candidates of the party, let them sheath their swords  and know that it was a brotherly contest.

“That if we put our house together, that we will get to that promise land, and tomorrow is another day. So if anybody is hurt, let me apologise on behalf of the party, on behalf of the candidates that emerged and on behalf of all of us. We need to reunite the house.  I’m committed to everything possible to ensure that we have a united party.

“Let me also say this is just the beginning because the main battle ahead is just out there.  What we have gone through is just internal contest, so, the enemy is out and not in.  So, we must do everything possible to ensure that we all work together. “

On expectations from him coming to contest for second time under APGA, he said, “I think we need to put the question in perspective, the first is that yes, I have contested before. So, asking for one new thing I will do, I have not done the whole thing that I thought I will do.

“So, the things I will do have just increased because of the bad governance in the last three years and half.  So, the whole things that I said I will do and the new ones that I will do; and I will just summarise them.

“Again, the next one is to let you know that the people did give me their mandate in 2015. And what happened was it was stolen brazenly. And because they have done nothing, with the stolen property, I’m sure that the people will be more than determined to give me much more than they gave me in 2015.

“What do I intend to? Abia State is a state that is blessed with resources both human and material, but because of the operating environment that the people have found themselves, in the last twenty years, they have not been able to make very effective use of al the resources that we are blessed with.

“So, what I intend to bring is the right environment for people to use efficiently and effectively the resources that they have. What I mean by that; if you go to Abia State today, it is arguably one of the worst states in Nigeria today in terms of infrastructural development.

“That has been over time. You don’t blame this present government alone. It has been like in the last twenty years.

“But I think the present government has exacerbated the challenges that they met.  And they have also made a little fool of themselves by going to the media with so much of propaganda about work that have not been done forgotten that people live in the state and they know. They have first hand experience of how they live.

“So, I intent to bring most importantly, infrastructural development because if you go to Aba and most part of Umuahia today, everywhere look like a refuse dump. But I don’t think it is too much to government to commit to cleaning the environment.”

Otti, also promised to turn around the state of roads, healthcare delivery in the state, which according to him are currently virtually not in existence in Abia state if voted into power as executive governor of Abia state.