Let me start this narrative from what I know too well….
Sometimes in 2020, a senior official of the Okezie Ikpeazu government called me…
He claimed I had defamed and tarnished his “good” image….
He told me that he has the backing of the state government to sue me for libel…
According to him, “at least 20 very important dignitaries have called me today. They have told me how you have made a career of writing rubbish against them.”
He insisted I retract my publication against him, issue an apology and refrain from writing against the Ikpeazu government.
I told him that would never happen.
He published his threats through several channels.
He was determined to hit me hard.
But I was adamant.
I don’t retract post and I don’t apologise over what I hold to be true.
I told a few friends about it and they all ask me to apologise to the man.
I insisted that i would be opening a Pandora box and making myself irrelevant if I toe that line…
Then one of those aware of the situation whispered the development to Dr. Alex Otti.
In his words, Otti “laughed so hard after hearing the story” before told him to keep him abreast of the situation.
Strangely, I did not hear from the said official ever again…
Till date, no further mention of courts, no attempt to harass or intimidate me…
No more demand for apologies.
What happened?
I don’t know.
I only know that the matter died the minute it got into the ears of Dr. Alex Otti.
Also in 2020….
A connected politician from Abia State wrote a petition against me to the police hierarchy in Abuja.
He told the police that I was blackmailing the Abia state governor and tarnishing the image of influential Abians whom he claimed had paid their dues…
He wants the IG to arrest and try me for blackmail and libel….
I got wind of it and reported to Dr. Otti.
I told him the officers involved and what I knew at the time.
He told me not to worry.
And suddenly, the police officer who kept calling me to meet him at Louis Edet House for interrogation stopped calling.
When I called the officer to know when he would be free to see me…
He simply sighed over the phone and told me he has been asked not to disturb me again.
What happened?
Again God saved me through the direct involvement of Dr. Otti.
Now to be clear…
I am just one of the few beneficiaries of Dr. Alex Otti’s strong leadership as the ONLY committed elite opposition politician in Abia state.
In the same 2020, the Okezie Ikpeazu administration through Mr. Anthony Agbazuere masterminded the arrest of Mr. Empero Gabriel Ogbonna. ..
Not one politician from Mr. Ogbonna’s community openly condemned his unjust incarceration. ..
If any chief, traditional ruler, elder, church leader or any lawyer in Abia State, the incarcerated man’s constituency, spoke up against his unjust detention, then it must have been in such a hushed tone that no one else heard…
I raised countless questions here at the time….
Wondering why many who ought to speak in defence of an innocent man kept quiet. …
Mr. Ogbonna was moved from a detention facility in Umuahia to DSS gulag in Abuja. ..
Still, everyone pretended and gave the impression that all was well…
Well, nothing was well…
Enter Alex Otti. ..
He took It upon himself to challenge the injustice against a fellow Abian. ..
He went to the leadership of the DSS to demand the release of Mr. Ogbonna. ..
He was directed to see the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice…
Promptly, he visited the minister and demanded that the lawyer be released.
It was a tough debate…
The man in question had been given up by his own people. .. he is undermining President Muhammadu Buhari, he is spreading hate and inciting violence against Hausa-Fulanis. ..
Otti told the minister that whatever be the case, the barrister has a right to fair hearing. …
He insisted that the man must be brought to court to defend himself…
Eventually , the minister yielded….
Mr. Ogbonna was brought to court and the rest as they say is history. …
Remember, while Otti stuck out his neck for Mr. Ogbonna, a man he had never met, never spoke to, he had no other consideration other than his motivation to defend ordinary Abians like you and I from harassment by the government. ..
Shall we forget about Don Norman Obinna who was picked up from a live radio show in Umuahia by again, Mr. Anthony Agbazuere, possibly acting on Okezie Ikpeazu’s prompting…
Who fought tooth and nail to secure his release from detention?
That same man…. Dr. Alex Otti. ..
He mobilised every resource available to him including financial and legal assets to make sure Mr. Norman walked free….
Beyond just helping individuals…
Otti alone has maintained that Okezie Ikpeazu’s decision to deliberately starve pensioners into their graves was the most despicable form of wickedness….
Otti has continued to call for improved welfare condition for Abia workers no matter where they work….
Shall we talk about the various road and infrastructure projects he attracted to various communities through his contacts?
How about the hundreds of students benefiting from his scholarship projects in several institutions of higher learning?
Shall we talk about his eloquence in condemning the terrible state of public infrastructure in Aba or the fact that he has rejected the popular business of seeking to be politically correct in a state where everything is wrong?
From my story, is it not clear that genuine opposition voices would have been completely stiffled but for Dr. Alex Otti?
Where I for dey?
Emperor Ogbonna and Don Norman’s cases are documented for public consumption. …
How about the fact that only Alex Otti made himself a father to many who had been made orphans by circumstances?
Those who run to him for all forms of assistance. ..
Those whom he has given genuine hope in a season of anomie. ..
How shall we be remembered when future generations learnt that for the fleeting things of life, we forget the one who insisted that being treated right and fairly is a right, never a privilege?
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