I pity Alex Otti

Abia State entered the Fourth Republic with high hopes. And, between 1999 and 2007, Governor Orji Uzor Kalu provided it with what many still regard as its last credible stretch of purposeful leadership. Under his watch, roads were constructed, institutions received attention, and a sense of direction existed. Until Alex Otti mounted the saddle, Kalu remained Abia’s last purposeful romance with good governance, especially given that he became governor of Abia after a long and destructive reign of the military. Rebuilding Abia after the military left in 1999 was no easy task. But Orji did a superb job getting things done. After him, good governance developed wings and japa from Abia. For 16 years, Abia roamed in some wilderness. It had neither compass nor rudder. But with Otti’s emergence, the story changed. Otti’s election meant the arrest of a systemic collapse that kept Abia in an ICU. Today, Otti has breathed life into the state and ended a regime of fiscal irresponsibility and squandermania that lasted 16 years. Do I expect the rent-seekers of the past 16 years to be happy and applaud Otti? Not at all. That is why I pity him.

After Orji Kalu, Aba, which once prided itself as Nigeria’s light industry hub, wore a new toga as the metaphor for decay. Its arterial roads turned into death traps, and salaries of civil servants, especially local government workers, went unpaid for months, while pensions embarrassingly accumulated.  Governance itself was reduced to rhetoric, and patronage for validation went overboard. Simply put, the governance bar was not just lowered; it was buried.

However, in less than three years after he assumed office, Governor Otti has engineered a renaissance that is visible and undeniable. His governance is not merely impactful; it is restorative. It has rebuilt infrastructure, revived institutions, and rekindled public trust. Yet, the loudest opposition to Otti comes precisely from the political loyalists and beneficiaries of those who buried Abia after the Orji Kalu years.  Unbeknownst to the opposition, their campaigns against Otti do not show any evidence of misgovernance. Rather, they come across as proofs that those who reigned in Abia after Orji Kalu, successfully normalised failure to such a very low extent that genuine governance now appears like magic; too real to be believed. It suggests that the Otti magic is unimaginable and unbelievable. Sadly, it is a reality that every Abia resident enjoys, including those who now have a career in denying the obvious.

The fact remains that the scale of transformation under Otti is best appreciated against the backdrop of the ruin he inherited. When he took office, Abia was routinely ranked among Nigeria’s worst-performing states. Its debt stood at over ₦130 billion. Civil servants were demoralised, and the commercial city of Aba was abandoned to gully erosion and waste. Otti’s response was immediate and methodical. He declared emergencies in security, health, education, and sanitation. Within months, he cleared salary arrears and began paying pensions that had been owed for over 15 years. Ghost workers were removed from the payroll, and the state’s wage bill was sanitised without retrenchment. His capital expenditure since 2023 has consistently exceeded 80 per cent of the state’s budget. These foundational reforms created the fiscal space for the infrastructure revolution that now defines the Otti era.

Nowhere is Otti’s impact more dramatic than in roads and urban renewal. In just two and a half years, his administration constructed or rehabilitated about 100 roads, spanning approximately 558 kilometres. In Aba, the once-impossible Port Harcourt Road has been completely rebuilt. Ngwa Road, Ohanku Road, and Cameroun Road, previously flooded death traps, now boast modern drainage, asphalt, and solar-powered streetlights.

Umuahia is not left behind: Ossah Road has been expanded into the six-lane Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard, complete with walkways, bus stops, and a near-complete central bus terminal. The iconic Omenuko Bridge in Ozu Abam, Arochukwu Local Government Area, a narrow colonial relic that had claimed lives and featured in electioneering gimmicks, was replaced in a record six months. The 29-kilometre Ozu Abam–Ndi Okereke Abam–Amuvi Road and the ambitious 67-kilometre Umuahia–Isuikwuato–Abiriba–Ohafia ring road are connecting previously isolated communities.

Rural ring roads also now link farming communities that had been cut off for generations. These are not cosmetic projects; they are economic arteries. Traders in Aba report faster movement of goods, reduced vehicle maintenance costs, and renewed confidence. The creation of the Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA) and the Greater Ohafia Development Authority (GODA) has institutionalised this renewal, moving beyond one-off contracts to master-planned, sustainable urban development.

Under Otti’s care, healthcare and education have received similar urgency. Under “Project Ekwueme,” over 200 primary healthcare centres across the 184 wards have been renovated and equipped, while tertiary facilities, including the Abia State Teaching Hospital, are being upgraded. The governor has equipped hospitals with modern tools and improved staffing. In education, thousands of teachers have been recruited, public schools are being fenced and provided with smart classrooms, and basic education is being strengthened. Security has also improved measurably through sustained operations and community partnerships.

On the economic front, the Abia Innovation Industrial Park at Owaza is rising alongside the Abia airport project. This is supported by a ₦10 billion industrialisation memorandum between Abia State and the Bank of Industry. Debt has been reduced to ₦66 billion, and a ₦5 billion manpower training fund for civil servants was announced for 2026. In December 2025, Governor Otti signed into law the Abia State Development Plan 2025–2050. That was a comprehensive 25-year blueprint that will guide budgeting, policy, and resource allocation long after his tenure. Critical stakeholders in Abia’s developmental journey, including the CountryFirst Movement and traditional rulers, have hailed Otti as a model of “professionalism, data-driven decision-making, and transparency.” Visitors to Aba and Umuahia speak of a “miracle” and a “resurrection.”

Otti’s magic leaves some people with heartaches.  That is why many people in the state argue that his achievements are too real to be believed. That argument is not rhetorical exaggeration but a sociological fact. In societies long subjected to governance failure and a very low performance bar, cynicism becomes a defence mechanism. When a leader suddenly insists on competence, accountability, and results, the reaction of those invested in the old order is disbelief, denial, and hostility. The supporters of the leaders of Abia, after Orji Kalu, do not oppose Otti because he has failed. Rather, they are opposed to him because he has succeeded in ways that make their principals’ records indefensible. They cannot admit that a banker-turned-governor with no prior political baggage has, in under three years, done more for Abia state than their patrons did in sixteen.

The resort to propaganda, selective amnesia, and conspiracy theories is, therefore, the product of lost relevance, which Otti’s achievements translate to mean. Unfortunately, many reasonable analysts see through the dark lens and appreciate that Abia is breathing again under Otti.

For those whose political fortunes were built on the old low-bar reality, Otti’s results are not inspirational; they are indicting. They expose the criminal waste of the past. His transparency threatens the patronage networks that thrived on opacity. His refusal to seek authentication from godfathers challenges the culture of entitlement. So, it is understandable that those who profited from lowered standards will find genuine progress too disturbing. They cannot recognise excellence because they have been trained to expect failure. Their criticism exposes the discomfort of people whose entire worldview was shaped by leaders who governed like Abia deserved nothing better.

Otti’s governance has redefined the psychological standard of what leadership should embody. The 25-year Development Plan guarantees that these improvements will be maintained. Infrastructure will continue to grow, human capital will be nurtured, and institutions will stand the test of time, and for the first time since Orji Uzor Kalu, Abians are experiencing leadership that serves rather than exploits them. So, I will rather define the opposition as a sign of validation. It shows that the bar has been raised so high that those who previously lowered it can no longer reach it. History will remember Otti not only for the roads, bridges, and hospitals he has built, but also for restoring dignity to a people who, in sixteen years, were conditioned not to experience good governance.