alex otti
Penultimate
Friday, Dr. Alex Otti, the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand
Alliance, APGA, in the Abia State election, raised the alarm that an attempt
was made on his life. This generated so much heat in the state with the Abia
State Government taking him on and pooh-poohing the allegation.
In this interview
with Ashiwaju.org, Dr. Otti laments that he is at a loss as to the interest of
the state government in the matter, especially since he did not point any
accusing finger at anybody.
According to him,
the police are aware of what happened with the attendant killing of a police
guard on duty at the residence where the attackers struck. In fact, he showed
photographs of the lifeless body of the policeman in a pool of blood. He was
shot in the head.In the photographs, you could see blood on the floor of the
house – the images are too gory to be reproduced here.
And because of on-going investigations by the
police, the identity of the dead is still being kept under wraps. But the
interview as not all about the assassination attempt. He also speaks about the
parlous state of finances of the Abia and why the people of the state should
not allow their future and those of generations unborn, to be mortgaged.
Excerpts:
Last week, there was a story about an attempted assassination on your
life. What really happened?
I had been away
in the U.S.
I returned to the
country last (penultimate) Saturday and I went to Abuja.
I was in Abuja
from that Monday till the early hours of Thursday.
From there I went
to Umuahia on Friday.
As early as
3.30/4am that Friday, the cook in the residence where I
stay in Abuja called to alert my personal assistant that there were some
unknown gun men who scaled the fence from the back of the house and entered
into the premises.
He said they shot
one of the police guards in the compound, and he died instantly.
Thereafter, he
said they went straight to my own apartment, ransacked everywhere and turned
the place upside down.
Of course, I was
not there.
He said they then
went to the other wing of the duplex which also has an office and ransacked it
too.
Did they steal or
cart away anything?
Not even a pin
was taken.
Nothing at all?
Nothing! So, it
was very clear to me that they were hired assassins.
What I did was to
call a press conference mid-way during the recess at the tribunal sitting in
Umuahia – that was during the one hour break of the tribunal so I quickly used
the opportunity to address the press, that same
Friday, July 24.
I alerted the
general public that some people made an attempt but thank God I was not
available to be killed.
I also disclosed
that a policeman was murdered in cold blood – I was very shocked first and
foremost that someone was killed. It was one of the guards that had been with
me all week.
Did you point
accusing fingers while you did the briefing?
A day later, Saturday, in the evening, I saw an online
report that the governor had issued a press statement. To my consternation, the statement said
that what happened in Abuja was a robbery event; that they had checked and it
didn’t happen in my place but another compound and that the person that was
killed was not attached to me.
The apartment you
were referring to, is it rented or your private property?
The place was
given to me by a friend. The duplex used to be his own guest house before he
went abroad. So, in the last two years, the place has been vacant. Since I left
the bank around November last year, he just called me and said he gave me one
of the wings so that anytime I am coming to Abuja I could stay there instead of
staying in hotels.
One of the
curious things about the statement from the government of Abia State – mind you
I did not mention any name nor did I point any accusing fingers just as I was
very careful not to give out too much personal information – was that the
government gave the name of the place where the incident happened. The statement said it was Nestoil but in my
press statement, I didn’t mention that because the police was still
investigating and I didn’t think it was proper. Even in the press interview, I
was asked if I suspected anybody and I said I didn’t suspect anybody because I
believe that the police will delve into the matter thoroughly and they will
come up with the culprits and whoever sent them. That was my comment and it is
still there in the public domain. You can go and check.
With your
petition against the incumbent governor still on at the tribunal and your press
briefing during the break could have suggested that ….?
Look, I was
surprised to read what they were saying, that I was whipping up sentiment….
That’s exactly
the point I was trying to make?
Somebody was
killed. A life was lost. Sentiments?
They said I
wanted to give an impression that Abia State was unsafe in order to actualize
my desire to move the tribunal sitting from Umuahia to Abuja. And I wondered
what sense that makes. The attack was in Abuja. If I wanted the sitting to be
moved to Abuja I should not be claiming that there was an attack in Abuja.
I think the
government statement was hurriedly put together and they didn’t really spare a
thought for it, otherwise, it does not make sense. I was amazed that somebody
of my calibre would be attacked and the sympathy word I would get from my
governor is that I was lying.
He concluded his
investigation 24 hours after the event happened.
He arrogated to
himself the role of the policemen investigating the case, the Inspector General
of Police, the spokesperson of the force and even the commissioner of police in
the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. I was very, very shocked that they could be
making such statement.
Again yesterday
(Thursday), they reported that the governor said I was raising false alarm.
But, it didn’t matter that a soul was lost. A bread winner, a father!
What stage is the
police investigation now?
They have taken
all the statements and samples, because there were quite a lot of blood stains
in the place. They are investigating. I think it was assigned to experts, the
CID. So, with the way they are going, I believe they are going to be able to
come up with some form of information very soon.
There was another
thing that shocked me, that was on
Tuesday. The state chairman of the party, that is PDP, took a page in a
national daily and titled it, “Exposed, the antics of a drowning man”.
I was really
shocked. He said in the publication that he had gone round all the police
stations in Abuja between Friday and
Tuesday, and no one confirmed to him that such a thing happened and reported,
that it was not true; that if it was true, I would have gone to the police.
This is a lawyer and as such, he should know better.
A matter that
obviously has nothing to do with him, going to the police station, he thinks
they will just volunteer information to him? I am quite disappointed that he
would make that kind of statement. And indeed he made quite a lot of
disparaging remarks. I have chosen not to respond to him. I thought it was too
desperate an attempt. I believe that the way they have meddled into this matter
is a sign of many things the police would have to unravel.
I have no doubt
that the I.G would invite them, at least, to ask them questions, how did they
know the venue of the attack? How
could they say the police man was not shot? Could they make statement and
credit it to the police? When a thing
like this happens, it is either armed robbery, kidnapping or assassination. And
they cannot rule out anyone until they finish their investigation. I think they
were too jumpy. There is a whole lot they may be able to help the police with.
Even though I understand the governor has immunity but that does not stop the
police from inviting him if he has information to give them. I think they have
spoken enough and the police should wade in and find out what else they know
that they have not told us.
How has it been
like from banking to politics?
I won’t say I
have been very surprised because I live in this country and I know how things
are. But there are few things that I found strange.
This is one
business where people know somebody is cheating them, yet, they continue to
give the cheater money. Where I am coming from, if you are not performing, I
get you out. But here, I just had to make do with the good, the bad, the ugly.
It is also a place where people do anything. My experience in the election was
a bit sad, because you see clearly that some people just bring bring ballot
papers, write fake results, force them into collation centre, get the results
announced, intimidate people, shoot people at polling units, scatter polling
units, snatch ballot boxes, particularly in the South-East, I thought those
should be things of the past. A situation where a few staff that should be
umpires to the election actually participated in the unwholesome activities.
People have said
that about INEC, but do you have proof?
At the
appropriate time, because my case is already at the tribunal, so I try to
refrain from making direct comments about the matter at the tribunal. But at
least I can tell you what I saw. I am also aware that some people have written
petitions and they have evidence about some of the things that happened. All
said and done, I think it is an experience. And it is not too much of a price
to pay to change things in the country. Some of us have gone through difficult
times of bad governance. We cannot keep quiet and not do anything and let it continue
the way it is going. One day we may not have a country. For me, I was not
looking for work, I had work, I was okay, it was my own way of trying to change
things, having people who know what to do, and take part in decisions that
affect the people. It was Plato that said when intelligent people shy away from
participating in politics, they take away their rights to complain when fools
begin to rule them. If we all sit idly and complain and do nothing about it,
things will just keep getting worse.
The house of
assembly in the state, there seems to be tension in your party and the PDP over
a N30b approval?
I don’t have the
details because it happened after I had left Umuahia. I just read it like you
did. But I think what happened, according to what I was told, was that a letter
from the government, asking for an approval for them to borrow N30b was sent to
the House. The speaker explained to
them that the funds were going to be used for reconstructing Aba, developing
other parts of the state including the state capital. They also sold a dummy to
them that most of the states were owing and that President Buhari was going to
write off all the debts and that Abia State was not owing as much as other
states and that if they got this N30b it will be put in that basket and it
would be written off. Of course,
anybody who hears that will know it was a dummy. So, they gave approval. But
subsequently, one of the government officials came to clarify that the sum was not
a fresh loan but would be used to offset some obligations of the state. So,
APGA members of the house, having heard this, went and dissociated themselves
from it.
Some observers
have said so many things about your state and its finances. What is actually
going on in Abia State?
Regarding the
loan issue, I think you are very right. There are a lot of things we as APGA
have been asking the government and we have been kept in the dark.
We don’t know
anything about the finances of the state. The state should not be run like a
secret society. Virtually all other state governors make pronouncement about
what they inherited in terms of debt or outstanding obligations to contractors,
salary arrears and all that. Our dear state has not said anything. We read that
there was money approved for salary but it was not deployed for that purpose.
Even in some ministries and parastatals, people are being owed between 8 to 9
months’ salaries.
There is no gain
saying that the finances of the state were muddled up. Even the internally
generated revenue, IGR, of the state is still very hazy. Even the ministry of
finance does not know how much the state collects. We are in Lagos, we know how
much Lagos collects. So, we thought there should be some transparency in terms
of management of finances of the state. Until you do that, we didn’t think it
was wise to borrow. We members of APGA think so too.
We look at
another APGA state like Anambra, you will see that it is one of the few states
that have credit balance system and it is about management of finances; it is
not about how much you get. Some of the other states have cut the coat
according to their cloth and so they are able manage and stay away from crisis.
If you reduce
profligacy and manage your finances properly, you will be able to avoid debt. Otherwise
if you go borrow N30b today,
tomorrow you will have to pay it.
Where are you
going to pay it from? I am a banker, so I know clearly when you borrow money
with an average interest rate of let’s say 15%, that easily means that if you
borrow N10b, you pay N1.5b. That N30b will easily be about N4.5b in terms of
interest alone for one year. You are still going to pay the principal. I think
rushing into loan is not the best thing to do. You need to plan your finances,
be sure you are able to pay back the loan. Borrowing is easy, paying back may
not be as easy.