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The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate for the 2019 governorship election in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has described the promise by the Okezie Ikpeazu government to complete the long abandoned Osisioma flyover in January of 2019, as a ruse.
Otti, in a statement by Kazie Uko, director of media and publicity, Alex Otti Campaign Organisation, described the announcement as an attempt by the government to pull wool over the eyes of Abia people, with elections fast approaching.
“We shall wait and see”, Otti retorted, when prompted for his reaction. “January is just around the corner, it is just about two weeks from now, that is if it is January 2019, they mean”, he said.
The Abia State Commissioner for Information, John Okeiyi, had informed some online news media that the project which started sometime January 2017, was billed for completion in early 2019. According to him, the project has a 24-month duration and therefore will be completed January 2019. He claimed the project was running within schedule.
The Osisioma flyover remains a subject of controversy between the Federal Government and the Abia State Government, over right ofway, as the bridge is being erected over the Enugu-Aba-Port HarcourtExpressway, a Federal road.
Otti while dismissing the capacity of the Okezie Ikpeazu’s PDP-led government to engender any meaningful development in AbiaState, within the short period left in its lifespan, appealed to Abia citizens to remain patient, as the “in-coming” APGA government has a clear programme tomove the State forward.
“The people of Abia State are suffering in pains and sorrow.There is no development. There are no motorable roads. Markets are not developed. Infrastructure is in bad shape. Everywhere you go, Abia looks like a war zone, whilst our neighbours look different. Go to Anambra State, go to Enugu State, go to Ebonyi State of yesterday and you will see what is called meaningful development. But God has heard the cries of Abia people. That is why today, I, Alex Otti and APGA, have stepped forward to lead our people to the Promised Land”, he declared.
Otti pledged that he will run a transparent and accountable government; a government that is not corrupt and not driven by the concept of god fatherism or “Mamacracy”, but a “government of the people of Abia State, by the people of Abia State and for the people of Abia State”.
He assured that his government will not be “a family business”.