Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte was right: A leader is a dealer in hope. Hope is the currency of leadership just as faith is the currency of religion. In Abia State, Governor Alex Otti is hatching hope from his incubator of leadership.
The banker-politician has in barely 10 months enacted a scene out of Abia, Nigeria’ south eastern state whose natives are famed for scholarship, industry, entrepreneurship and innovation.
It’s not a horror scene. Neither unsavoury, nor unseemly. It’s a scene worthy of the klieglights, fit for celebration. A scene so manifestly good that even his enemies attest to it. They chorus that Abia is transforming.
Some political opponents, probably not expecting such profound incandescence in the transformation of the state, mutter it in subdued tones. Others just don’t care. They yell it. They say Otti is working and it’s showing. But would it matter, even if they try to dissemble and dissimulate? The ensigns are writ large. My visit to Aba, the commercial hub of Abia state last week, was more than enough to tell tales about Otti’s march of grit and guts in the state that was once a poster child for dirt and decay in the south east. Aside Lagos and Abuja, Aba is the next place I call home outside my homestead in Delta state. My people are there and have been contributing their little quota to the national development mix.
Otti has become the answer to a national puzzle. The answer to the niggling question: What’s wrong with Nigeria? This writer has always subscribed to the thesis of the late legend, Chinua Achebe, who surmised that leadership, more than anything else, is the problem of Nigeria. From all known global data mines and statistical banks, Nigeria sits among the most resourced nations of the world. Natural resources, gifted human capital, great weather and breathtaking topographies and landscapes that charm and enchant. With a rich mix of tropical rainforest, serene savannah belt, and Islands barbed all round with aquatic splendour, Nigeria typifies the majesty of creation, the motif of what many other nations wished they were. Add to that list our rich menu of unimaginable diversity in cultures, food and humankind. Nigeria bewilders as much as she beguiles.
Yet, in spite of these totems of blessedness, Nigeria still stumbles in the blackness of darkness. No regular electricity. Nigerians have become so inured to blackout and its concomitant darkness that whenever the electricity custodian delights them with long, unbroken hours of steady electricity, fear sets in: Who knows what they are up to? The people query the rationale of being serenaded with long hours of power supply. Such is the aberrant nuisance that steady electricity supply has become.
And perish the thought if you think this piece is about the Light up Abia project made possible recently by Geometric Power Limited, a nimble-footed, ambitious 21st company founded by a globally celebrated engineer, inventor and innovator, Professor Barth Nnaji. Never! This is about the leadership value and essence that Governor Otti has brought to the feet of the people of Abia. He is a wonk and he makes no pretence about it. From road infrastructure to healthcare and education, Otti is turning the pages of renewal for the state. For those familiar with the state since the return of constitutional government in 1999, it is easy to notice the Otti effect. It’s a compelling effect that has caught the attention of not just his Labour Party but across other parties. Much like inductive effect in chemistry, Otti’s ceaseless exertions are noticeable to all.
Represented by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, President Bola Tinubu, a man who recognises development and barely mixes it with politics, recently declared Otti a ‘working governor.’ Tinubu is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Otti is of Labour Party. But party differences could not douse the President burst of excitement at the level of turnaround that has happened in Abia in less than one year. The President was in the state for the commissioning of three roads: Queens, Jubilee and Umuoba (Omoba), all bearing the signatures of Otti.
Tinubu exhaled: “Within the last nine months, people of Abia State have witnessed a change in their fortunes. Abia is working! We are quite proud of the accomplishments of His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti. He has brought to bear his wealth of experience, intellect and exposure to the development of Abia State.”
Such is the effect of the transformational leadership which Otti has unleashed on Abia. For a man who had persistently sought to lead the state this past decade, it was obvious he came prepared. His audacious steps since May 29, 2023 speaks to a man of immense courage, a pivotal element of good leadership. Otti packs courage. The courage to make promises during electioneering and the integrity to keep those promises.
Just imagine the case of the long-abandoned 6.8Km Port Harcourt road in Aba. In what appears a masterstroke, Otti awarded the contract to Julius Berger (JB), the German construction firm famed for quality job delivery. Former Senate President and the Chairman Board of Trustees BoT, of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Adolphus Wabara, described it as ‘historic.’ And it was indeed historic such that some Abians shed tears of joy the day JB mobilized its construction machinery to site.
Otti is a clear outlier in disruptive leadership. He refused to follow the convention. He pulled away from the same formula that has held the state down for decades. Disruptive leaders usually think and act outside the box of convention. They birth a fresh zest of innovative thinking in the workplace. That’s what Otti is doing in God’s own state. And that’s because Otti was a disruptive leader in the banking ecosystem before joining the horde of politicians and quasi-politicians angling for the top political job in Abia.
But unlike many others, he was not a jobber, not one now and never would be. He was a resounding success in his private sector life, a hands-on banker who placed premium on results. He is one of the reasons some Nigerians hold the view that any politician seeking top public office especially as Senator, Governor or President should come with a successful resume from the private sector.
The argument is that those who are career politicians (career public servants) are easily sucked into the same public sector miasma that has crippled development in the country since Independence. They want the likes of Otti to take a break from their private sector enterprise to take up key positions in the burgeoning democratic enterprise. Otti in Abia represents hope for Nigeria. And in case you are still asking, what’s wrong with Nigeria? It’s leadership, simple as that. Otti has provided the answer in Abia with sound leadership in so short a time. Little wonder his name echoes across the land as the man with the solution wand. He deserves the plaudits.
First published in Sunday Sun
