I’ve come to build, not to spoil – Otti
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has enjoined Abians to support the policies of his administration, saying he has come to build the state and not to spoil it.
The Governor made the call against the backdrop of outcries against some of the major decisions his government has taken which include various changes made in the state civil service and the inauguration of a Judicial Panel of Enquiry on the Recovery of Properties and Funds belonging to Abia State government.
He said these measures were geared towards laying the right foundation for rebuilding and repositioning the state.
Governor Otti who was speaking at the thanksgiving service reception ceremony of the Deputy Speaker of Abia House of Assembly and member representing Umuahia East State Constituency, Rt. Hon. Austine Meregini, at Community Primary School, Umuana Ndume, in Umuahia North Local Government Area said his administration would stop at nothing in its bid to restructure the state.
He noted that by his actions, he may have blocked several avenues through which corrupt persons may have been milking the state dry.
He said: “It is now over a month since we took over the governance of Abia State and all we have been doing is to set the building blocks because if you do not set your foundation right, whatever you’re building may not stand, even if it does, it will not stand for a long time.
“So when you hear that we are dissolving members of some boards, setting up of Panel of Inquiry, we just want to reset the state.
“We have assured and promised you that we are coming to rebuild. Make no mistake about it, rebuilding is difficult but we are prepared. So, no one should lose sleep because we know where we are going.
“It is also not uncommon for you to be hearing people wailing and crying and that is expected because for the past 24 years, some people had put their mouths on the feeding bottle and since we came, we have removed their mouths.
“There may be a few people whose mouths we have not seen and that is why we have the Panel. We fish out those people and remove their mouths from the feeding bottle. Why do I say so, the feeding bottle is for all of us. So anytime that happens (yanking their mouths from the ‘feeding bottle’), you will hear them screaming; the man is undemocratic, the man wants to spoil the state.
“We have not come to spoil, we have come to rebuild. So, if the rebuilding process tastes like spoiling to them, we can understand but we cannot sympathize with them.
“Like I said, a lot of government properties are in the hands of individuals and we must retrieve them and return them to the original owners,” Otti vowed.
He congratulated the celebrant and member representing Umuahia East state Constituency, Rt. Hon. Austine Meregini on his emergence as Deputy Speaker and for taking the bold step to appreciate God for His bountiful blessings.
Meregini, while promising to discharge his responsibilities efficiently, also assured that he would justify the confidence reposed in him by his constituents, in addition to supporting the government of Dr Alex Otti to enable him to fulfill his promises to the Abia electorate.
He used the forum to thank his constituents for their overwhelming support and urged them to continue to give their full support to government of the day.
Wife of the Governor, Lady Priscilla Otti, the Speaker Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa, Member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Sir Obi Aguocha, his Isialangwa North /South counterpart, Chief Ginger Onwusibe, as well as other federal and state legislators, graced the event.
