The many sides of Otti: Obi, Tinubu, ‘otumokpo’ and life after power

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File: Gov Alex Otti and President Bola Tinubu.

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By Juliet Umeh

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There are moments when Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, sounds more like the banker he once was than the politician he has become.

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Read Also: Rivers 2023 results: Questions on Wike’s account on Atiku, Obi

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Ask him how Abia could confront billions of naira in inherited obligations while pouring money into roads, hospitals and schools, and he talks about expenditure ratios, financial discipline and cutting the cost of governance.

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Push him on Peter Obi, President Bola Tinubu and the intrigues of 2027, and another Otti emerges: cautious, deliberate and unwilling to be boxed into declarations he does not want to make.

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Then comes the humorous side.

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What is the secret behind the spending?

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“That’s what I call my otumokpo,” he joked, using the expression for supernatural powers before explaining that there was no magic involved.

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These different sides of Otti emerged during a wide-ranging interview he granted ARISE Television, where he spoke about Obi, Tinubu, 2027, Abia’s finances, electricity subsidy and life after Government House.

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Perhaps one of the most revealing moments came when he explained why he remained in the Labour Party, LP, when Obi decided to leave.

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“You don’t relocate from your house because armed robbers came,” Otti said.

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According to him, Obi consulted him before leaving.

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“He came and met with me. And I told him that for me, I was staying back. But he said he was leaving.”

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Otti said Obi believed LP’s internal crisis would not be resolved while he remained, although the governor thought resolution was already underway.

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Still, he would not condemn Obi’s decision.

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“He could have seen what I wasn’t seeing,” Otti said. “I don’t even have superiority of knowledge.”

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Walking the Tinubu-Obi tightrope

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Otti’s position becomes more intriguing as 2027 approaches.

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While maintaining a working relationship with Tinubu, he insists cooperation with the President should not automatically be interpreted as an electoral endorsement.

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Pressed about suggestions that Southeast governors were backing Tinubu, Otti insisted: “Nobody can speak for me. I’m the one that will speak for myself.” He said he had a Labour Party presidential candidate and declined to reveal who would eventually get his personal vote.

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On Obi, however, he insisted there was no personal quarrel.

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“Peter Obi and I are not fighting,” he said, adding that Obi, Atiku Abubakar or any other candidate would be free to campaign in Abia. That is what democracy is about.”

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‘I stand by what I wrote’

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Otti also stood by his previous account of the funds Obi left after governing Anambra State, an issue that has returned to political debate ahead of 2027.

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“What I documented in 2020 is factual,” he said.

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But Otti drew a distinction between the savings he knew about and whatever liabilities may have existed.

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“I cannot talk about the debts. It’s not within my competence to talk about it.”

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The ‘otumokpo’ behind Abia

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If Otti is willing to discuss Obi’s financial record, he is equally eager to put his own before the public.

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He said his administration inherited about N191.2 billion in different obligations, including contractor debts and pension arrears.

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Yet his government has continued spending heavily on infrastructure.

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His “otumokpo”, Otti explained, is financial discipline. We said no less than 80 percent of our budget will go into capital expenditure.”

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Abia’s 2026 budget is N1.016 trillion, according to the state government.

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Otti said containing recurrent expenditure leaves the government with resources for roads, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure.

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“If you don’t manage your costs very well, you will find that year in, year out, you are struggling, you are working hard, you are sweating, but it’s not showing.”

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‘Electricity cheaper than darkness’

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The same philosophy shapes his position on electricity subsidy.

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Otti argues that manufacturers need reliable power more than subsidised consumption. “If you have to run a generator, buy the diesel, provide for the maintenance, you will find that you are paying a whole lot more than public power supply. It’s still cheaper than darkness.”

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But perhaps his most striking declaration was about his own future. There will be no Senate or presidency after Abia, he insists, a position he has reiterated publicly.

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“Not local government chairman, not Senate, not President. I think I came to deliver a call, and that is what I am doing now. Once I finish it, I will retire.”

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For a politician who fought repeatedly to become governor, it is an intriguing promise: when the Abia chapter closes, Otti says the political book closes with it.

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