By NewsCritic Reporters
Abia State born entrepreneur and Founder of The Team Nwa-Abia Movement, Chief Chris Akachukwu Nwa-Abia has said that in the event the Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti defects to the All Progressives Congress, APC, as being speculated in certain quarters, that the people of Abia will not lose anything by the movement.
Chief Chris Akachukwu Nwa-Abia, who holds the title of Ihie Umuahia, told journalists in Umuahia during the week that he is not opposed to the Governor of Abia State returning to the APC because such moves would take Abia into the mainstream politics of Nigeria, and also help to reposition the state in both political and economic terms.
Speaking further on the issue of Gov Otti’s defection back to the APC after leaving the party to join Labour Party, LP, under which platform he contested and won the Abia governorship election, Engr Chris Nwa-Abia maintained that nothing is wrong with the idea of the Governor moving back to APC, saying that Abia must not be seen to lag behind again in the comity of states due to complacency.
The former house of assembly candidate of the Action Peoples Party, APP, for Umuahia North State Constituency stressed that the people of Abia should try and look at the bigger picture in terms of what the state stands to benefit, and not about Gov Otti’s interest as some people might want to believe.
Chris Nwa-Abia notes that many of the party stalwarts who left the APC ahead of the 2023 General Election are returning to the party’s fold, adding that given the present political dynamics it will serve the Abia interest more if Gov Otti heads back to the APC at this moment in history. “So, I’ll support the Gov to return to his former party APC because of what it can do for Abia and help Gov Otti achieve in the long run”, posits Nwa-Abia who was a former chieftain of the party in Abia State.
NewsCritic online reports that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State and some Abians have been gossiping that Gov Otti is making moves to return to the APC, a party he joined in 2020 but later left to LP in 2022 to become its standard bearer for Abia.
The insinuation became widespread following the appearance of the now Attorney General of the federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbami, SAN, in court on Thursday, 17th August on the side of Otti whilst he had already been designated a minister of Justice. The opposition PDP wondered why he should still be interested in the private matter of an opposition governor, describing his coming to the Tribunal as an act of intimidation.
They also accused Otti of making subterranean moves to join the APC in a bid to secure his political future in the face of judicial onslaught against the victory of some LP candidates. But whether this alleged plan will materialize either now or in the near future is still left to be seen.