Alex Otti, the newly elected governor of Abia State, has stated that nothing can prevent his inauguration on May 29.
The Governor-elect, who stated this on Monday while receiving the report of the Transition Council, which was formed last month to define a direction for his government, stated that he was already prepared to assume leadership of the state.
The governor-elect stated that his legal staff was already managing the problem and that his main concern was to hit the ground running once sworn in.
My lawyers are doing something about it, I can assure you, but I don’t think it’s something to worry about. However, eternal vigilance is what is required, when you have enemies around you.
“So, I want to reassure you that the mandate that the Abia people gave us is sacrosanct. Nobody should lose sleep. We will be sworn in on the 29th of May, and we will complete our four years and we will seek the renewal of the mandate I can assure you that the Abia people will renew the mandate and we will do another four years and Abia people will be happy and all these are by the grace of God”.
Otti stated that the council had made his work so simple.
The 101-member Council is directed by Mr. Victor Onyenkpa, Managing Director of PWC, and Mrs. Ifueko Omogui-Okaru, former Executive Chairman of Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
“On listening to the presentation of the Chairman, I will say that this job has been made very easy by the job that you have done. Granted some of the things that you have recommended are things that we have talked about, but a lot of them are also things that are new. And even the things that we have talked about, you have brought in sharper relief and focus. So, it becomes easier to implement. I must say thank you to all of you.
“I want to thank you for the energy, I want to thank you for the time you put into this. I want to thank you for doing a job without pay. I do know how important your time is. You can rest assured that we are not going to take lightly the efforts you have put into this.
“You will also be very proud, I can assure you, that the recommendations that you have made will be implemented,” he assured.
Concerning his plans to establish a Ministry for Aba Development, Otti stated that he would reconsider the nomenclature in accordance with the council’s recommendation to redesignate it, fearing that a ministry with bureaucratic bottlenecks would undermine the laudable goal of the Aba renewal agenda.
“When we talk about disruption, when we talk about digital economy, when we talk about Aba, and I agree with you when you say, may be the creation of a Ministry is not the solution, we’ll go and look at it again. The reality is that I want an agency that will report directly to me, that is in charge of Aba.
