Alex Otti: Victimisation, summersaults and Kanu’s blunder in Enyimba FC

By Orji Uduma

Close observation of the activities of Mr Alex Otti from when he was declared the Governor-Elect to his inauguration as Governor, where he struggled to speak to a not-interested-looking audience at the Umuahia Township stadium in his inaugural speech, show that he is overwhelmed, ignorantly clueless, and not prepared for the business of governance in Abia State.

His policy summersaults in the past eight weeks he has held sway as governor of the State, have exposed him as one who has no plans or idea of what to do. He is completely overwhelmed and bewildered.

Otti’s first sign of unsettledness was when as Governor-Elect, he show-manly dragged Julius Berger (JB) to a road under construction by a reputable construction company engaged by the then administration, now former. He gave the impression that as soon as he is sworn in, he will hit the ground running with JB on Port Harcourt Road. Eight weeks down the line, it has become obvious that the man was in a hurry for the camera shows.

Immediately after his inauguration, he showed up in Aba to flag off his regime’s waste management program, indicating readiness to cart away refuse from the street of Aba. A man, who left his house, coming to flag off the waste management programme, should be prepared with the necessary safety equipment. But Otti, who appears to be only interested in photo ops and showmanship, was seen with a shovel on a heap of refuse, smiling at the camera.

Shortly after, he declared his premeditated willingness to recover government properties, including cars, computers, chairs, tables, brooms, etc, which according to him, were looted by the previous administration. While the announcement for the recovery was still on, he sent his deputy after leaders of markets, as they went on a manhunt, going from one market to another, arresting and illegally detaining those that didn’t support their election.

Not long after, some market leaders became victims of 419, after money was allegedly extorted from them, and their names were announced on the state radio, as the new market committee members. Some of the announced market leaders were still on the way out of Umuahia, when a counter-announcement came on air, revoking their appointments.

Only a bewildered regime will sack the Head of Service of the State, and all permanent secretaries in the state civil service, leaving two, and appointed a deputy director as acting Head of Service.

Only an overrated regime will sack workers and ask them to re-apply for the same job they were sacked from, within 48 hours, as is the case of Enyimba FC and the Ministry of Health, where Kanu Nwankwo as chairman of Enyimba FC and Mrs Ngozi, commissioner for Health in Abia State, carried out the order of their befuddled regime.

In Enyimba FC, Kanu Nwankwo, who has not officially taken over as the Chairman of the football club, sacked his former senior colleague in the Super Eagles, Finidi George, who didn’t apply for any job in Enyimba FC but was hired on contract as the manager of the team.

Kanu Nwamkow’s sack letter dated July 17, 2023, signed on his behalf by the Sporting Director of Enyimba FC of Aba read: “Application for Re-Absorption Into Enyimba Management. To all the management, staff, and technical crew of Enyimba 1 and 2 teams. You are hereby instructed by this notice to re-apply for your position in the club with immediate effect. Note: all applications should be submitted to the Club TMS manager within 48 hours. Thanks for your usual cooperation.”

In the state’s Ministry of Health, the Commissioner for Health, Mrs Ngozi, in her memo dated July 17, 2023, through one Dr. Hemuka Rock Biale, sacking all medical doctors in the ministry reads: “I am directed to inform all Medical Doctors in the State Ministry of Health employ to re-apply expressing their interest on working with the Ministry indicating their willingness to work under the Ministry of Health, Umuahia and Hospitals Management Board (HMB). This is in line with the Government’s vision of delivering healthcare services to all Abians. This is expected to be done on or before Friday 21 July, 2023. This is mandatory to avoid sanction.”

Trying to beat a hasty retreat and deny the sackings, putting the blames on their scapegoats, is yet another clueless summersault of a regime with little or no knowledge about governance and due diligence. This also explains why there have been uncoordinated press releases and counter-press releases by the regime.

The macabre going on in the Abia State House of Assembly, where an unpopular and ineptitude speaker is said to have suspended a lawmaker for granting a press interview, is not just an attempt to muscle the constitutional right to freedom of speech and free press in Abia but goes to show that the ‘New Abia’ regime is autocratically opposed to the tenets of democracy and rule of law.

Before their next unacquainted attempt to delude governance, can they respond to the Peoples Democratic Party’s demand for the publication of names and account numbers of the alleged ghost workers?

Recall that the opposition PDP through its spokesman, Abraham Amah, asked the regime to publish the names of the ghost workers discovered in the payroll.

According to the PDP; “The purported discovery of ghost workers without accompanying proof of the names and account numbers of the ghost beneficiaries is not only childish but a plot that leads to nowhere.”

Welcome to an ignorantly clueless and confused ‘New Abia’ regime. The show continues.

*Orji Uduma, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Umuahia.