Abia Must Be Liberated-Ebere Uzokwa writes

After decades of an excellent banking career, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, took the entire business community and indeed the corporate world by surprise as he announced his resignation as the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc on October 2014. His foray into politics immediately after his honourable resignation was no doubt greeted with mixed reactions. Yet, his goal and aspiration were clearly defined-‘To serve his people in the area of governance and public policy’.

Who knows whether young Alexander Chioma Otti, whose excellent academic and scholarly performance bestowed with the rare privilege of delivering the Annual Valedictory Speech in 1988 of the University of Port Harcourt as the Overall Best Graduating Student for the Year; the best graduating student in the Faculty of Social Sciences winning the Deans Prize and the best graduating student in the Department of Economics, had an inkling that providence and hard-work would after that glorious moment catapult him straight to the banking hall.

After an enviable career that traversed several financial institutions including Citibank Group and United Bank for Africa Plc, Dr. Otti was meritoriously appointed to the position of Executive Director of First Bank of Nigeria Plc in-charge of Commercial Banking and subsequently, Head of the Regional Business in the South-South and South-East geo-political zones of the bank in 2005. Following an outstanding performance at the premier bank, Dr. Otti was head-hunted after he was discovered by KPMG, and appointed as the third Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Bank Plc on March 1, 2011.

As record has it, Dr. Otti practically brought his exceptional brilliance and professional excellence to bear as he transformed the previously fringe player to become of the Elite Club of the Eight Systematically Important Banks (SIBs) in the country with a robust Two Trillion Naira balance sheet from the N565b he inherited.

Dr. Otti was the Chairman of the Committee of Bank CEOs of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, 2012-2013, Chairman, Bankers Committee subcommittee on Economic Development, Sustainability and Gender as well as Director of the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS) that pioneered innovations in the payment system in Nigeria financial landscape.

While recognising his outstanding and distinguished service to the industry, the world beckoned on him on Saturday May 11, 2013 at the 20th Anniversary of US Africa Magazine in Houston Texas and honoured with the US Africa International Banker of the year award presented to him by the influential US Congressman Al Green amongst other honours and recognition. This feat recorded by Dr. Alex Otti, OFR as a career banker, undisputedly gives credence to the saying of the 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, as he stormed the banking sector, ‘saw and conquered’.

However, Dr. Otti bided his time in the banking industry hence he exited with honour that ostensibly aroused ovation. That, indeed, motivated the excitement of the then Chairman of Diamond Bank Plc, Igwe Achebe, who glowingly extolled Dr. Alex Otti’s enviable achievements in the Bank, describing his tenure as “the brightest years of Diamond Bank’s 24 year-history”.

Achebe, a boardroom czar and well respected monarch, had on behalf of the Board of Directors of Diamond Bank Plc, said:

“Under Dr. Alex Otti’s stewardship, Diamond Bank made a remarkable return to profitability and has continued to record impressive growth across all performance indicators year-on-year. After writing off toxic risk assets which resulted in the loss of N16 billion in 2011, the Bank posted a profit before tax of N28.36 billion in 2012 and N32.5 billion Naira in 2013.

“The Bank also saw its total assets rise from N564.9 billion in February 2011 to N1.18 trillion by December 31, 2012 and N1.52 trillion on December 31, 2013. Dr. Otti is credited with creating the office of the Chief Risk Officer and designating an Executive Director to head the department. He also spear- headed the expansion of the Bank by doubling the full staff count from around 2,000 in 2010 to over 4,000 as at mid-2014 even as he vigorously grew the Bank’s footprints from a network of 210 branches in 2011 to over 265 branches 3 years later.

“It was also under his watch that the Bank established an international subsidiary in the United Kingdom, in addition to expansion in Francophone West Africa (Senegal, Togo, and Ivory Coast). It is to be noted that the Central Bank only recently classified the bank as one of the eight Systemically Important Banks (SIBs) in Nigeria under Dr. Otti’s watch. “Dr Alex Otti is a fine gentleman with an outstanding career in the Nigerian Banking industry. We are pleased with the time he spent at the helms of affairs of Diamond Bank Plc and wish him every success in his future endeavours”.

Dr. Otti, indeed, re-devoted his energy and resources to serving his people in the area of governance and public policy. His declaration to contest the 2015 governorship of Abia State was motivated largely to achieve a set out goals that could have transformed a near-collapsed Abia beginning from 2015.

His well-thought-out voyage into the murky waters of partisan politics and subsequent superlative performance recorded in 2015 as the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), was spiritedly the bold step Dr. Otti took to transform and glowingly rewrite the negativities in Abia political landscape. No thanks to PDP and its penchant for election rigging and Nigeria’s un-amended and weak Electoral Act.

Needless to recall the fouled manipulations and electoral malpractices that midwifed the Obingwa, Osisioma and Ugwunabo ‘magic figures’ that illegally catapulted the incumbent to power in 2015. Do we talk about the Ukwa-Ngwa sentiment and the hurriedly packaged and artificial unity that anchored the conspiracies that denied Dr. Otti his victory? What do we say about the sponsored blackmail and sinister campaigns viciously orchestrated to destructively malign Dr. Otti without minding his enviable pedigree and internationally recognised status as one of the most successful African banker?

Not deterred, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, is ever resolute and committed to entrenching a new dawn in Abia. The disturbing scenario of the 2015 never dampened his spirit. To him, Abia must be retrieved from the firm grip of the wicked political godfathers and “blood tonic” suckers and then repositioned towards harnessing its endowed potentials to among other gains drive good governance and impactful developmental programmes. Abia must be fixed to enable its citizens realise their individual objectives and goals through state-enabled entrepreneurship and opportunities that shall be vastly created through a reinvented public service and bureaucracy.

Is Dr. Alex Otti bringing anything new to the table in terms of vision? In answering this poser, I will posit that the former GMD/CEO of Diamond Bank is destined to Umuahia government housed with a bag filled with character, integrity, experience and well-articulated blueprint that will ultimately midwife good governance and transformational development in Abia.

Dr. Otti strongly believes that Abia needs change; the real change that our people are collectively yearning for. This is not change that will base on empty sloganeering, false promises and deceit. It is that change that is real, tangible, purposeful and sustainable. A change that is verifiable with defined deliverables and structured agenda. That is exactly what Dr. Alex Otti is offering to Abians towards as antidote to sustainable development and socio-economic revolution.

As enunciated in his “Manifesto”, Dr. Otti shall deploy his experience, character and contact towards running a government that will bring real development and prosperity to its citizens. He will strategically focus on comprehensive and sustainable development agenda that will encompass improved infrastructure, health-care, education, human resources and manpower development, youth and women development and improvement of municipal services, such as the provisions of water and electricity.

Dr. Otti will run a government that will tackle insecurity in all facets to ensure that the lives and properties of all Abians are secured in appreciation of the fact that security has remained the most important duty of government. That’s Dr. Alex Otti’s vision for ‘A NEW ABIA’.

What do Abians owe Dr. Alex Otti, OFR? Nothing but SUPPORT and PRAYERS. As the government of Abia State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resort to propaganda and blackmail, intimation of the opposition and character assassination precisely against Dr. Alex Otti and his disciples, Abians owes it as a duty to show resilience against the oppressors hence the ‘liberation battle’ involves all and sundry.

Abians must patriotically rise against the godfathers and the beneficiaries of the rotten system whose total dependency on the state treasury has continued to retard development and growth of the God’s Own State.  As Dr. Alex Otti, OFR promises solemnly to deliver all his electoral promises, Abians must queue behind him to SALVAGE and REPOSITION Abia.

Abia must be liberated!

• Uzoukwa, a seasoned journalist and PR practitioner, is currently pursuing his Doctorate Degree on Mass Communication in Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri.