Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has ruled out seeking a Senate seat or becoming a political godfather after his tenure, declaring that he wants younger people to take over leadership of the state.
The Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ctz. Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday, September 17, 2026, following Otti’s reception of the 2023 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dr. Ngozika Gladys Johnson-Chukwunenye, into the Labour Party (LP) at the party’s state secretariat in Umuahia.
According to Ukoha, Otti recalled Johnson-Chukwunenye’s participation in the 2023 governorship election on the SDP platform, describing her decision to contest as courageous, particularly as a woman seeking elective office.
The governor, according to the statement, made the declaration while responding to concerns about what would happen after the expiration of his tenure in 2031, stressing that his priority was to leave behind a legacy of good governance rather than perpetuate himself in political office.
“So, what I can assure you is that by the time I’m done, the person that will succeed me will be better than me. Once I finish this one, I will retire. I want the young people to take over. We should stop this sit-tight system,” Otti stated.
Ukoha quoted the governor as further rejecting the prospect of becoming a political godfather, saying the choice of his successor should be collectively determined by Abians based on merit.
“I don’t want to be a godfather. We will all sit down, look at everybody, and say who is the best person for this job. And then all of us would agree and we will campaign for him,” Otti stated.
The Chief Press Secretary said Otti also explained that his administration was focused on tackling Abia’s most pressing challenges through deliberate planning and prioritisation, noting that the government could not address every problem simultaneously.
“This is just about 39 months. Everything cannot be done in one day, particularly in a place that has been badly managed in the last 24 years. It takes a lot of time, resources and planning,” the governor stated.
According to Ukoha, Otti said his administration had initially prioritised the restoration of Aba and Umuahia before extending its interventions to communities in the hinterlands.
“The most important areas for us were to restore Aba and Umuahia. And I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that we have literally restored those cities. We are now moving into the hinterlands, and we will continue until we reach everywhere,” Otti stated.
Earlier, Johnson-Chukwunenye said her decision to join the Labour Party followed her close observation of developments in Abia under Otti, citing the payment of salary arrears, regular salaries, attention to pensioners and road rehabilitation in Aba and Umuahia as factors that influenced her decision.
“I saw a State that was once the dustbin of unpaid salaries: 29 months of arrears, now paying salaries on the 28th of every month. I saw pensioners who were left to die, now smiling again because Abia remembers them,” she said.
She also cited the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Road and other roads, as well as government interventions in sanitation and infrastructure, saying the developments had contributed to what she described as the restoration of Abians’ dignity.
“It became my own divinely guided conviction that my assignment must align with this vision. Hence, my decision to openly and joyfully support this second-term bid; not for politics, but for posterity,” Johnson-Chukwunenye declared.
The former SDP candidate said her decision was not merely about joining a political party but about aligning with Otti’s “Greater Light” vision, particularly his administration’s policies concerning vulnerable people, youths, women and social inclusion.
“The Government of Dr. Alex Otti remembers the poor, it remembers the helpless, it remembers the youths yearning for jobs, the women yearning for inclusion, and the men yearning for order,” she said.
The event climaxed with the formal handover of the Labour Party flag to Johnson-Chukwunenye by the party leadership. Ukoha said Otti also commended her for bringing children from the School for the Blind to the event and welcomed her and her supporters into the party.
