I Won’t Be A Godfather, My Successor Will Be Better Than Me — Otti

Governor says he has no Senate ambition, will retire after second term; says young people will take over Abia

UMUAHIA — Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has said he will not play godfather after leaving office, assuring that his successor will be better than him and will emerge through collective agreement of Abians.

Governor Otti stated this on Thursday, September 17, 2026, during reception of former Social Democratic Party, SDP, governorship candidate, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Gladys Johnson Chukwunenye, into the Labour Party at the party secretariat in Umuahia.

“I don’t want to be a godfather. And I don’t tolerate godfathers,” Otti declared. 

“What I can assure you is that by the time I’m done, the person that will succeed me will be better than me. And we will all sit down. We will look at everybody and say who is the best person for this job. And then all of us will agree and we will campaign for him.”

The Governor said his administration cannot be distracted by those he described as being in the infinite minority who refuse to acknowledge ongoing transformation, noting that more than 95% of Abians see what is happening in the state.

“You can cook a very good soup, and somebody who has lost his sense of taste, by the time you give him the soup, he will not taste anything,” he said, adding that his government will remain focused, quoting Winston Churchill that one will never get to destination if he stops to throw stones at every barking dog.

Otti said his administration, now 39 months old, started by restoring Aba and Umuahia, which he said have been literally restored, and is now moving into hinterlands, stressing that everything cannot be done in one day in a place badly managed for 24 years.

He emphasised that the most important gift to a people is good governance, saying once people taste good governance, it will be difficult to ‘take them back to Egypt.’

On his future political ambition, Otti said he has no interest in going to the Senate or clinging to power after his tenure.

“I keep saying it. I’m not interested in any other thing. I don’t even want to go to Senate. I’m not interested. Once I finish this one, I will retire. I want the young people to take over. We should stop this sit-tight. It can’t be only you,” he said.

He pointed to the state’s leadership academy where 1,080 young people aged 16 to 25 recently graduated, describing them as smart and as future leaders being trained for tomorrow.

Otti welcomed Chukwunenye into Labour Party, saluting her courage for contesting in 2023, and thanked her for recognizing modest efforts of his administration to change Abia’s story.

Earlier in her speech, the Former SDP governorship candidate in Abia, Dr. Ngozika Johnson Chukwunenye described her defection into Labour as alignment from light to greater light.

Dr. Chukwunenye said she came not just to join a party but to align her calling with a perfect avenue for service.

She said her desire to bear social burdens of the people started 15 years ago in 2009 as a junior resident doctor in the United Kingdom when she divided her salary into three, using one-third to pay tuition for indigent children and support the less privileged.

She disclosed that through her Sanctuary Christian Ministries and Shogunate Foundation, over 2,200 Holy Bibles have been distributed as at its 15th annual convention held August 28, while the foundation has paid school fees, empowered widows and supported the sick.

Chukwunenye said she keenly followed developments under Governor Alex Otti, citing regular payment of salaries on 28th of every month, settlement of pensioners, fixing of roads previously declared unfixable like Port Harcourt Road, and cleaning and lighting up of the state.

She said her conviction to openly support Otti’s second term bid is not for politics but for prosperity, quoting Ecclesiastes 5:9 that profit of the earth is for all, arguing profit of Abia should be for everyone not just governors and cronies.

Aligning her foundation and movement with LP, she pleaded for a continuity and completion law to prevent abandonment of projects after Otti’s second term and said any future non-performing governor should be impeached regardless of party, insisting Abia must move forward not backward.