“We’ll Take A Back Seat After Choosing A Successor” — Otti Says He Won’t Control Abia Politics After Leaving Office

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has said he has no intention of becoming a political godfather after leaving office, insisting that whoever succeeds him should emerge through a collective process and ultimately receive the mandate of Abia voters.

Otti spoke on Thursday at the Labour Party State Secretariat in Umuahia while formally receiving Dr Ngozika Gladys Johnson-Chukwunenye, the Social Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 election, into the Labour Party.

The governor, who is seeking re-election in 2027, said he expects whoever eventually succeeds him to perform better than he has and maintained that he would not attempt to control a future administration from outside office. His campaign organisation currently presents him as the Labour Party’s incumbent governorship candidate for the 2027 election.

“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,” Otti said.

“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.”

Explaining how he believes a successor should emerge, Otti said political stakeholders would examine those interested in the position, agree on who they considered suitable and campaign for that person, while the electorate would make the final choice.

“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 said.

The governor had made a similar declaration earlier in January 2026, when he said his eventual successor in 2031 would be “better than me” and argued that his administration was laying a foundation on which a future government could build.

Otti also ruled out seeking a Senate seat after completing his time as governor, saying he intends to retire from elective politics and create room for younger people.

“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,” he said.

According to him, younger Nigerians should increasingly be given opportunities to assume leadership responsibilities.

“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,” he said.

Otti also criticised what he described as the “sit-tight syndrome” in politics, arguing that younger and better-trained people should be allowed to take responsibility.

“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,” he said.

Speaking about his administration’s record, Otti said his government had made substantial interventions in Aba and Umuahia and was extending infrastructure and other government programmes to communities outside the two major cities.

“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,” he said.

Responding to criticism of his administration, the governor said he preferred not to be distracted by political attacks.

“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 said.

At the event, Otti recalled Johnson-Chukwunenye’s participation in the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the SDP, describing her decision to contest for the state’s highest office as courageous, particularly as a woman.

Johnson-Chukwunenye had, days earlier, joined two other former 2023 governorship contenders in publicly supporting Otti for a second term, citing what they described as improvements in infrastructure, salaries and pensions, public-sector administration and service delivery. Those assessments were political endorsements by the former candidates, rather than independent findings.

Speaking at the Labour Party secretariat, Johnson-Chukwunenye said her decision to join the party followed her assessment of developments under the Otti administration.

She specifically cited the payment of salary arrears, regular payment of workers’ salaries, attention to pensioners and rehabilitation of roads in Umuahia and Aba as factors that influenced her decision.

Otti was elected governor on the Labour Party platform in 2023. He is now campaigning for another term in the 2027 governorship election; a second-term victory would allow him to serve until 2031.