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Assassination Attempt Story - Alex Otti by oluwatomisin93(m): 12:32pm On Aug 02, 2015 |
Penultimate Friday, Dr. Alex Otti, the governorship candidate
of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, in the Abia
State election, raised the alarm that an attempt was made
on his life. This generated so much heat in the state with the
Abia State Government taking him on and pooh-poohing the
allegation.
alex otti
In this interview with JIDE AJANI, EDITOR and OLALEKAN
BILESANMI, Dr. Otti laments that he is at a loss as to the
interest of the state government in the matter, especially
since he did not point any accusing finger at anybody.
According to him, the police are aware of what happened
with the attendant killing of a police guard on duty at the
residence where the attackers struck. In fact, he showed
photographs of the lifeless body of the policeman in a pool
of blood. He was shot in the head.In the photographs, you
could see blood on the floor of the house – the images are
too gory to be reproduced here. And because of on-going
investigations by the police, the identity of the dead is still
being kept under wraps. But the interview as not all about
the assassination attempt. He also speaks about the
parlous state of finances of the Abia and why the people of
the state should not allow their future and those of
generations unborn, to be mortgaged. Excerpts: Last week,
there was a story about an attempted assassination on your
life. What really happened?
I had been away in the U.S.
I returned to the country last (penultimate) Saturday and I
went to Abuja.
I was in Abuja from that Monday till the early hours of
Thursday.
From there I went to Umuahia on Friday.
As early as 3.30/4am that Friday, the cook in the residence
where I stay in Abuja called to alert my personal assistant
that there were some unknown gun men who scaled the
fence from the back of the house and entered into the
premises.
He said they shot one of the police guards in the compound,
and he died instantly.
Thereafter, he said they went straight to my own apartment,
ransacked everywhere and turned the place upside down.
Of course, I was not there.
He said they then went to the other wing of the duplex which
also has an office and ransacked it too.
Did they steal or cart away anything?
Not even a pin was taken.
Nothing at all?
Nothing! So, it was very clear to me that they were hired
assassins.
What I did was to call a press conference mid-way during
the recess at the tribunal sitting in Umuahia – that was
during the one hour break of the tribunal so I quickly used
the opportunity to address the press, that same Friday, July
24.
I alerted the general public that some people made an
attempt but thank God I was not available to be killed.
I also disclosed that a policeman was murdered in cold
blood – I was very shocked first and foremost that someone
was killed. It was one of the guards that had been with me
all week.
Did you point accusing fingers while you did the briefing?
A day later, Saturday, in the evening, I saw an online report
that the governor had issued a press statement. To my
consternation, the statement said that what happened in
Abuja was a robbery event; that they had checked and it
didn’t happen in my place but another compound and that
the person that was killed was not attached to me.
The apartment you were referring to, is it rented or your
private property?
The place was given to me by a friend. The duplex used to
be his own guest house before he went abroad. So, in the
last two years, the place has been vacant. Since I left the
bank around November last year, he just called me and said
he gave me one of the wings so that anytime I am coming to
Abuja I could stay there instead of staying in hotels.
One of the curious things about the statement from the
government of Abia State – mind you I did not mention any
name nor did I point any accusing fingers just as I was very
careful not to give out too much personal information – was
that the government gave the name of the place where the
incident happened. The statement said it was Nestoil but
in my press statement, I didn’t mention that because the
police was still investigating and I didn’t think it was proper.
Even in the press interview, I was asked if I suspected
anybody and I said I didn’t suspect anybody because I
believe that the police will delve into the matter thoroughly
and they will come up with the culprits and whoever sent
them. That was my comment and it is still there in the
public domain. You can go and check.
With your petition against the incumbent governor still on at
the tribunal and your press briefing during the break could
have suggested that ….?
Look, I was surprised to read what they were saying, that I
was whipping up sentiment….
That’s exactly the point I was trying to make?
Somebody was killed. A life was lost. Sentiments?
They said I wanted to give an impression that Abia State
was unsafe in order to actualize my desire to move the
tribunal sitting from Umuahia to Abuja. And I wondered
what sense that makes. The attack was in Abuja. If I
wanted the sitting to be moved to Abuja I should not be
claiming that there was an attack in Abuja.
I think the government statement was hurriedly put together
and they didn’t really spare a thought for it, otherwise, it
does not make sense. I was amazed that somebody of my
calibre would be attacked and the sympathy word I would
get from my governor is that I was lying.
He concluded his investigation 24 hours after the event
happened.
He arrogated to himself the role of the policemen
investigating the case, the Inspector General of Police, the
spokesperson of the force and even the commissioner of
police in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. I was very, very
shocked that they could be making such statement.
Again yesterday (Thursday), they reported that the governor
said I was raising false alarm. But, it didn’t matter that a
soul was lost. A bread winner, a father!
What stage is the police investigation now?
They have taken all the statements and samples, because
there were quite a lot of blood stains in the place. They are
investigating. I think it was assigned to experts, the CID. So,
with the way they are going, I believe they are going to be
able to come up with some form of information very soon.
There was another thing that shocked me, that was on
Tuesday. The state chairman of the party, that is PDP, took
a page in a national daily and titled it, “Exposed, the antics
of a drowning man”.
I was really shocked. He said in the publication that he had
gone round all the police stations in Abuja between Friday
and Tuesday, and no one confirmed to him that such a
thing happened and reported, that it was not true; that if it
was true, I would have gone to the police. This is a lawyer
and as such, he should know better.
A matter that obviously has nothing to do with him, going to
the police station, he thinks they will just volunteer
information to him? I am quite disappointed that he would
make that kind of statement. And indeed he made quite a lot
of disparaging remarks. I have chosen not to respond to
him. I thought it was too desperate an attempt. I believe that
the way they have meddled into this matter is a sign of
many things the police would have to unravel.
I have no doubt that the I.G would invite them, at least, to
ask them questions, how did they know the venue of the
attack? How could they say the police man was not shot?
Could they make statement and credit it to the police?
When a thing like this happens, it is either armed robbery,
kidnapping or assassination. And they cannot rule out
anyone until they finish their investigation. I think they were
too jumpy. There is a whole lot they may be able to help the
police with. Even though I understand the governor has
immunity but that does not stop the police from inviting him
if he has information to give them. I think they have spoken
enough and the police should wade in and find out what else
they know that they have not told us.
How has it been like from banking to politics?
I won’t say I have been very surprised because I live in this
country and I know how things are. But there are few things
that I found strange.
This is one business where people know somebody is
cheating them, yet, they continue to give the cheater money.
Where I am coming from, if you are not performing, I get
you out. But here, I just had to make do with the good, the
bad, the ugly. It is also a place where people do anything.
My experience in the election was a bit sad, because you
see clearly that some people just bring bring ballot papers,
write fake results, force them into collation centre, get the
results announced, intimidate people, shoot people at
polling units, scatter polling units, snatch ballot boxes,
particularly in the South-East, I thought those should be
things of the past. A situation where a few staff that should
be umpires to the election actually participated in the
unwholesome activities.
People have said that about INEC, but do you have proof?
At the appropriate time, because my case is already at the
tribunal, so I try to refrain from making direct comments
about the matter at the tribunal. But at least I can tell you
what I saw. I am also aware that some people have written
petitions and they have evidence about some of the things
that happened. All said and done, I think it is an experience.
And it is not too much of a price to pay to change things in
the country. Some of us have gone through difficult times of
bad governance. We cannot keep quiet and not do anything
and let it continue the way it is going. One day we may not
have a country. For me, I was not looking for work, I had
work, I was okay, it was my own way of trying to change
things, having people who know what to do, and take part in
decisions that affect the people. It was Plato that said when
intelligent people shy away from participating in politics,
they take away their rights to complain when fools begin to
rule them. If we all sit idly and complain and do nothing
about it, things will just keep getting worse.
The house of assembly in the state, there seems to be
tension in your party and the PDP over a N30b approval?
I don’t have the details because it happened after I had left
Umuahia. I just read it like you did. But I think what
happened, according to what I was told, was that a letter
from the government, asking for an approval for them to
borrow N30b was sent to the House. The speaker
explained to them that the funds were going to be used for
reconstructing Aba, developing other parts of the state
including the state capital. They also sold a dummy to them
that most of the states were owing and that President Buhari
was going to write off all the debts and that Abia State was
not owing as much as other states and that if they got this
N30b it will be put in that basket and it would be written off.
Of course, anybody who hears that will know it was a
dummy. So, they gave approval. But subsequently, one of
the government officials came to clarify that the sum was
not a fresh loan but would be used to offset some
obligations of the state. So, APGA members of the house,
having heard this, went and dissociated themselves from it.
Some observers have said so many things about your state
and its finances. What is actually going on in Abia State?
Regarding the loan issue, I think you are very right. There
are a lot of things we as APGA have been asking the
government and we have been kept in the dark.
We don’t know anything about the finances of the state. The
state should not be run like a secret society. Virtually all
other state governors make pronouncement about what they
inherited in terms of debt or outstanding obligations to
contractors, salary arrears and all that. Our dear state has
not said anything. We read that there was money approved
for salary but it was not deployed for that purpose. Even in
some ministries and parastatals, people are being owed
between 8 to 9 months’ salaries.
There is no gain saying that the finances of the state were
muddled up. Even the internally generated revenue, IGR, of
the state is still very hazy. Even the ministry of finance does
not know how much the state collects. We are in Lagos, we
know how much Lagos collects. So, we thought there should
be some transparency in terms of management of finances
of the state. Until you do that, we didn’t think it was wise to
borrow. We members of APGA think so too.
We look at another APGA state like Anambra, you will see
that it is one of the few states that have credit balance
system and it is about management of finances; it is not
about how much you get. Some of the other states have cut
the coat according to their cloth and so they are able
manage and stay away from crisis.
If you reduce profligacy and manage your finances properly,
you will be able to avoid debt. Otherwise if you go borrow
N30b today, tomorrow you will have to pay it.
Where are you going to pay it from? I am a banker, so I
know clearly when you borrow money with an average
interest rate of let’s say 15%, that easily means that if you
borrow N10b, you pay N1.5b. That N30b will easily be
about N4.5b in terms of interest alone for one year. You are
still going to pay the principal. I think rushing into loan is not
the best thing to do. You need to plan your finances, be sure
you are able to pay back the loan. Borrowing is easy, paying
back may not be as easy. |
Re: Assassination Attempt Story - Alex Otti by Marvellouzkk(f): 12:34pm On Aug 02, 2015 |
newsport |
Re: Assassination Attempt Story - Alex Otti by priscaoge(f): 12:35pm On Aug 02, 2015 |
Too lazy to read d whole Epistle .....Can someone summarize this post for me Alex Otti is still d people's choice!!!!! |
Re: Assassination Attempt Story - Alex Otti by priscaoge(f): 12:35pm On Aug 02, 2015 |
Marvellouzkk: Have u finished reading it? Pls summarize |
(1) (Reply)
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