ABUJA: Estranged associate of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, Prof. Moses A. Orji, has asked President Bola Tinubu not to honour the invitation by the governor to visit the state in order to commission only one project.
In an open letter to the President on Tuesday which was made available to Vanguard in Abuja, Orji said it is even in the interest of the governor for the president to shelve his visit.
“It could even be in the personal interest of Governor Otti that the President doesn’t come now. Perhaps Otti needs time to put his house in order”, he stated.
The President is reportedly scheduled to visit Abia State on May 23, to among other things, commission the 6.5 kilometre Port Harcourt Road in Aba, which was rebuilt by the Otti administration.
However, Orji said it is not enough to be dragging the President of the Federal Republic about just because the governor’s cousin is a Federal Minister, and ‘one of those who has the ears of Mr. President”.
He said Otti should have taken a cue from the activities of his colleagues in Anambra and Enugu states who recently hosted the president to commission several key projects.
“In which state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria has the president gone to commission just a single completed project, and nothing more?
“Why would Mr President go to Enugu state to inaugurate seven different key projects completed (by a fellow first termer with Otti), and then feel the same sense of duty to be called upon to inaugurate just one in Abia?
Our Governor wanted his colleague from Lagos state to come and commission a 200 metre track road (Yellow Avenue) on the outskirts of Aba, a street leading to the private residence of one of his business friends. Of course his intended guest caught wind of it, and refused to show up.
“I am therefore of the opinion that this make-believe approach to scoring dubious political points by an administration that is grossly underperforming should be exposed and discouraged.
“For example, what if the President decides to have a breather at the Government House, Umuahia which has a Presidential Lounge? Would Mr Otti tell the President to follow him to his private residence at Isiala Ngwa? Remember the President is not coming on a social visit. Or would our Governor tell his august guest that tortoise, vulture and other animals were used to lay the foundation of our Government House?
“Again the Abia ‘Medical City’ at Owerrinta is within the precincts of our Owerrinta Rice Complex. What if the President decides to have a glimpse of the Owerrinta Rice Mill? The proximity of the ‘two projects’ could tempt the President to kill two birds with one stone.
“Yet we may not have learnt our lessons as our governor continues to fire broadsides at his predecessors, and as he continues to blame the rate of the Dollar to the Naira for the inflated value of his contracts”, he stated.
Vanguardngr.
