Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has clarified his position on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the 2027 presidential election, saying he supports Tinubu as President but has his own presidential candidate for the election.
Otti made the clarification in an interview with ARISE News Anchor Ojy Okpe while responding to questions about his position on Tinubu’s re-election bid and his continued membership of the Labour Party.
Asked whether he was supporting President Tinubu for the 2027 election, Otti said:
“For the 2027 election, I had said that I have a presidential candidate.”
When asked whether that was the candidate he was supporting, he responded:“Yes.”Asked directly whether he was supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Otti said:“What do you expect me to say? To say I’m not supporting him?”
He explained that Tinubu had the right to contest the election, while stressing that his responsibilities as a governor and member of the National Economic Council were separate from his choice of presidential candidate.
“Of course, I had said he has the right to run, and nobody can stop him from running. So whether I’m supporting him or not supporting him is not even an issue.
“I’d also said that as a governor in this Republic, a lot of the things that are being—in fact, I’m part of all the things that are being done as a member of the National Economic Council. So we should distinguish that.
“When somebody then says, ‘Oh, you are supporting or you’re not,’ I have to support him.”
Asked whether he was supporting Tinubu’s presidential bid, Otti clarified:
“What I talked about is supporting the president as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As time goes on, it is for me now to decide who to support.
“But at the moment, I have a presidential candidate, and it’s expected that I will support my presidential candidate.”
Otti also defended his decision to remain in the Labour Party despite its internal disputes and court cases, saying the problems had been resolved.
“But you have seen that we’ve solved the problem. There is a saying that you don’t relocate from your house because armed robbers came.
“Armed robbers came and attacked the house, so tomorrow you move and go to your neighbor’s house? You need to solve the problem, so I remained, and I’m sure you agree with me that we have solved the problem.
“Of course, there is always an opportunity to go to another court or start litigating once again, but the reality is that INEC has published its list of candidates.
“So even if you go to court, it’s an academic exercise. We litigated all the way to Supreme Court, started the litigation again, and got to the Court of Appeal. Because we are standing on the right side—”
On former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi’s decision to leave the party, Otti said Obi had met with him and that he advised him that he would remain in the party.
“He came and met with me, and I told him that for me, I was staying back. But he said he was leaving.
“I also predicted some of the things that happened, particularly where he went to first, and then he left that place again. Is it for me to tell him where he will be? Absolutely no, but at least I offered him my own piece of advice based on my understanding.
“You know he’s a more senior person, so there are things he could have seen that I didn’t see.”
Responding to Obi’s claim that the Labour Party’s problems would not have been resolved if he had remained in the party, Otti said the resolution process was already underway.
“Okay, but the process of resolution was already on. So for me, I could see that resolution.
“Like I said, he could have seen what I wasn’t seeing, and I’m not in a position to—I don’t even have a superior idea or knowledge.
“But what I could see at that time, including what I saw where he was headed, eventually turned out to be right. Otherwise, he would have stayed there, but he now left to where he is now.
“So it’s a matter of debate whether the problem could have been resolved with him there or not; I don’t know,”he said.
Boluwatife Enome
Follow us on:
