Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State, has stated that he is close to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and does not need to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, along with members of the State House of Assembly elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), recently joined the APC.
During their official reception on Monday, Okowa, who was the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, said he and his successor joined the ruling party to connect Delta State to Aso Rock.
However, in an interview with Arise Television on Friday, Governor Otti dismissed the notion that joining the ruling party is necessary to get closer to the president.
The governor, who was responding to speculation that he planned to leave the Labour Party for the APC, stated that not everyone needs to join the ruling party.
When asked if he needed to defect to be close to the centre like Okowa and Oborevwori, Otti said, “I am even closer to the centre than some of them.
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“Governor Otti is not decamping, and my party is not on shaky ground.
“This is democracy, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu held on to his Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress, and Action Congress of Nigeria before becoming APC. If he had defected, he wouldn’t be president today. Sometimes, you also have to stand for something.”
Speaking on the leadership crisis in the LP, Otti stated that he was uncertain about his future in the party.
He said, “I am not God. I cannot say if there’ll still be an LP tomorrow.”
The governor also said that the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, was no longer the party’s leader, as his tenure had expired, adding that a Caretaker Committee is currently in charge of the party.
(PUNCH)
