Otti, a former group managing director of Diamond Bank, pointed out that Obi would be laughing at those behind the story.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Abia State Governor-elect, Alex Otti, has said that his relationship with his party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is “unbreakable and evergreen” following claims that he was dissociating himself from Mr Obi.
The LP governor-elect had, while responding to a question on whether it was Obi’s popularity that made him win the election, said he won in 2015 and 2019 but his victories were stolen.
Otti said in a statement on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, that the trending report quoting him as saying, “I had won election in the past without Peter Obi” was “headline-induced journalistic sensationalism” geared towards driving social media traffic and drawing needless controversy that would keep the promoters busy.
Otti, a former group managing director of Diamond Bank, pointed out that Obi would be laughing at those behind the story.
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He stated, “Obi knows and understands my personality, and knows that I hold him very high, and thus would be laughing at those that twisted my statement in a manner it would look like a denigration of him.
“That I almost lost the APGA governorship ticket in 2019 in Abia, was because I had the audacity to defend Obi publicly when I presented facts of evidence to prove that he left the money he claimed to have left behind in Anambra’s treasury while leaving office as governor. This was against the denial by the then-Anambra State Government.
“Again, my ThisDay Column of June 8, 2020 captioned, ‘The Triumph of Profligacy Over Prudence’ was used to celebrate Obi and his leadership style.
“As we were not in the same party then, there was no better way to prove that my love, support and appreciation of Okwute has nothing to do with politics. I’m sure he would be laughing over this report, because he’s smarter and thus understands the agenda of those circulating the distorted portion of my interview.”
Otti added, “Obi and I have unbreakable bond, therefore those trying to use a news headline to bury the substance of my analogical submission which was made to respond to a question and explain that, outside the massive impacts of the Obi wave, we are on ground in Abia and had won elections twice in the past; are either being misled or are outrightly mischievous.”
