Otti raises  the alarm over alleged vicious media campaign

…Says to opposition, “your vicious media campaigns can’t offer you second chance”

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has raised the alarm over a purported plot to unleash consistent  vicious media onslaughts and blackmail against him and his administration by the opposition in the state.

However, the Governor of God’s Own State who didn’t name any political party or an individual, has told the opposition that such a plot cannot yield them the second opportunity they were looking for to continue their plundering of the state.

Otti who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, said a plot to launch a sustained vicious media campaign against him has been uncovered.

Ekeoma, in a statement made available to newsmen in Umuahia, alleged that as part of the purported media onslaught, an unnamed federal lawmaker, penultimate weekend, addressed Journalists in Abuja where he handed them fake documents, purporting same to have emanated from government.

Since Otti assumed office as Governor, the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which lost power to the Labour Party that produced him (Otti)after 24 years of ruling the state, has consistently launched vitriolic attacks on the Governor, his policies and projects, painting him as a misfit and a profligate who was deceiving Abians.

But the Governor has always denied those allegations, maintainimg that he holds the popular mandate of Abians and that the PDP’s media campaigns couldn’t take them back to the seat of power in Abia.

Reiterating this stand, Ekeoma wrote in his statement:

“Those unleashing these endless smear campaign against Governor Otti are pained by the popular verdict of acceptance which has continued to place him very high as a very performing and popular Governor in the country. 

“Sadly they do not know that these vicious campaigns can never offer them the second opportunity they desperately seek to bring back their era or ruins, ruthlessness and enslavement against Abians.”

Ekeoma branded those plotting the alleged vicious media campaign against the Governor as selfish politicians who want to continue plundering the state, adding that they were being sponsored by those who want to hold Abia State down in penurious perpetuity.

Part of his statement reads: “A plot to unleash consistent  vicious media onslaughts and blackmail against the

 Governor of Abia state, His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, and the government of Abia state, has been uncovered. 

“A certain federal lawmaker gathered some media men  over the (last) weekend in Abuja and handed over tons of fake documents ‘purportedly from the government’ and shared large sums of money to the media men to support the launch of a media onslaught on the Governor. 

“It was not immediately clear what the purpose of the attack was. What is clear is that the plot is being bankrolled by those with the delusional desire to hold Abia state down in penurious perpetuity that were rejected by the people at the polls.

The Governor’s aide, therefore, asserted that “Governor Alex Otti holds the popular mandate of Abia people in trust and enjoys the overwhelming support of Abia masses who are already heaving a sigh of relief since his assumption of office, therefore no form of orchestrated and senseless media attack can diminish his towering credentials and verifiable achievements as being acknowledged by Abians.”

He further said that “Abians have taken a courageous decision to live honourably and peacefully in the New Abia under the responsible and responsive leadership of Governor Otti and therefore can never fall prey to the antics of political opportunists or be deceived to believe that their oppressors of yesterday can become their saviours of today.”

He added that “those who are out to blackmail and defame the present government and the Governor in order to return to power directly and indirectly and continue to build the eternal criminal empire they dreamt about,  clearly have underestimated the resolve and determination of the government and people of Abia state to resist, confront and defeat them in order to build an Abia that would be glorious and prosperous in all spheres.”

According to Ekeoma “the Alex Otti led-government is only loyal to Abia people and not to a group of selfish political merchants who are only after their selfish political interests, and thus would continue to serve Abians passionately and diligently while remaining accountable and answerable to them at all times.”