The Concerned Citizens for Better Abia (CCBA), a civil society organization and good governance advocacy group over the weekend adopted the candidacy of Dr Alex Otti as their sole candidate ahead of the forthcoming Abia gubernatorial election on the 2nd of March 2019.
The group which had in a conference chaired by a heavyweight, Elder statesman Chief David Agwala, had in attendance several civil rights movement which were drawn from all corners of the state.
In his statement, Chief Agwala noted that it is disheartening the statistics that the number of Abians who voted outside Abia in the 2015 elections were more than the number of Abians in Abia. This necessitated the call for Abians to come together to vote and vote rightly.
Speaking further, Chief Agwala said “In January 2015 this group came together to say no to the bad governance that has bedeviled the state for the sixteen years of the PDP, we endorsed the candidacy of Dr Alex Otti, we believe he won the election but was manipulated and rigged out by the evil forces that have vowed never to see the state progress because of their interest.”
Participants at the conference, who took time to speak on several issues, spoke on several issues including agricultural revolution, participation in politics and protection of votes.
In the course of the event, an Elder statesman Chief Ogan Joshua Okereke spoke passionately of how the state has been patronizing godfathers who do not have the interest of the people at heart, paying a huge amount of money to them at the expense of workers and pensioners in the state.
The conference which ended with a vote of no confidence on the present and a call for an endorsement of a candidate of one of the other major contenders, Drs Alex Otti and Uche Ogah, was concluded with an endorsement of Dr Alex Otti after a voting which ended in favor of him after he polled 32 to the 2 votes for Dr Uche Ogah.
SEE GROUP COMMUNIQUE :
A BILL TO RESCUE ABIA PASSED AT ABA…..
Dr Alex Otti Wins In A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE ON Ikpeazu.
It was the mother of all gatherings at Aba, Abia State, as the CONCERNED CITIZENS for a BETTER ABIA, in collaboration with the organised labour in Abia, civil soceity & market organisations, activists, professional bodies in Abia, Aba business community & Abians from across the country & all works of life, was held at Terminus hotel Aba, on the 9th of Feb, 2019.
After 7 hrs (6 pm – 2am) of passionate deliberations, debates & rationalisations, during which delegates where allowed to exhaust all they had to say about the ugly situation on ground in Abia. Delegates cried over the pains & suffering Abians have been sujected to for too long. Speaker after speaker, blamed the illegitment, ineffective, blind, unaccountable, confused, anti people, no God fearing, corrupt & unpopular regime in the state, the devastating menace caused by godfathers & the so called “elder statesmen”, to the economy of the state.
The non payment of salaries & pensions to civil servants & pensioners by the state government which has led to deaths of many pensioners. The children of civil servants pulled out of schools due to poverty & inability of parentss who are employed, but not paid salaries, to pay school fees was also considered by many delegates who spoke, as evil, wicked, cruel & the height of the state government’s demonstration of inhumanity, hatred & insensivity to the plight of the people of Abia who did not vote them into power. Some female delegates shed tears amid curses & prayer to the high heavens for God to interven & help rescue Abia from the clutches of subsequent evil & unpopular regimes that came through the back door to govern the state.
Delegates traced how, where, when & why we got it so wrong in Abia that has seen our oil producing state, blessed with so much human resouces & abundance of good people who had exelled or distinguished themselves in many fields of human endevours, placed as the least developed state, by all development indices, in the country.
Whatever or whoever led to or is responsible to our state being left behind by all her sister states in the south east was blamed by majority of the delegates to the reluctance or refusal & the indefference of our good men & women who shy away from elective offices, leaving empty mediocres to be toying with our destinies & the future of our children. Delegates refused to hold Abia voters responsible for what they are suffering in the hands of a bad leader today because they voted in 2015 for a leader of their choice, Dr Alex Otti, who was denied the mandate. They vowed to obviate the dangerous trend that see only the wrong people come to power in Abia since 1999. They urged the people to protect their votes this time around by not walking away after casting their votes, but staying back.
Delegates comdemned Abians who, inspite of the unique ugly situation in the state & the suffering of their people, have refused to register or transfer their voter registrations to their home state, so that they could come home to help bring about the desired change.
When the moderator requested those who had their voters’ cards to show them, over 70% of the delegates raised theirs up while about another 20% proved convincinly that they had registered to vote at home, but did not have theirs with them there.
When it was time to adopt a candidate for the governorship election in 2019, more than 80% of the delegates insisted that Ikpeazu was not electable & must be rejected or deleated from the list of those for possible adoption. Much as the co-odinator/moderator tried to have the governor included in the list of those to be voted for when that method was accepted as the process to determine the winner, shouts of nooo!!!! was so deafening that it had to be carried for the summit to continue.
The list was narrowed to Dr Alex Otti of APGA & Dr Uche Ogah of APC. When it was put to vote & a delegate from Kaduna was asked to conduct the voting process, Dr Alex Otti & APGA won by more than 90%.
The victory of Dr Otti in that excercise, was greeted with a loud & uncontrolable ovation, dancing & jubilation that lasted over 30 minutes. It was dificult to restor order, but at the end, the delegates resolved, among others, to be included in the official communique of the summit, to support, campaign & work for Dr Otti & his party APGA in the 2019 general elections & insisted that their votes & those of the other voters in Abia must count this time.
The gathering came to an end about 3 am with a resolution to visit Dr Otti to inform him of this development, thank him for his sacrifices & honest commitment to rescue Abia & pray with him.
The NLC & other members of the organised labour in Abia who were at the event. reminded the delegates of a national labour policy that forbids labour from voting for or supporting any state government that is owing workers. They thanked the CCBA for inviting them to the honest talk on the future of Abia.
Most media professionals & houses in Abia were at the event.
Dave Agwalla.
National Leader CCBA.
