Barrister Eze Chikamnayo, a former Commissioner of Information in Abia State under the administration of former governor Okezie Ikpeazu, has berated Governor Alex Otti over his appointment of Anambra State-born billionaire Ide Udeagbala as the Mayor of Aba City.
Chikamnayo, known for his vociferous attacks on Otti, warned that the governor’s preference for appointing non-indigenes at the detriment of indigenes could set the state on fire.
It would be recalled that Otti announced the appointment of the Anambra-born industrialist as mayor of Aba City on Saturday amid controversy.
While addressing stakeholders in a viral video, the governor pointed out that the days of the indigenes and non-indigenes dichotomy are gone in the state.
According to him, only merit will determine who gets what in his administration.
The newly appointed Mayor of Aba, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), is believed to be a close associate of Governor Otti.
But reacting to the development in a statement issued on Monday and obtained by MUK TV, Chikamnayo urged President Bola Tinubu and security agencies to call Otti in order to avoid turning the state into a crisis zone over his utterances.
The statement titled ‘Stop Alex Otti before he sets Abia on fire’ emphasized that Aba belongs to two closely knitted communities known as ‘Aba Na Ohazu,’ stressing that the city is not a man’s land.
The statement partly reads, “Non-indigenes from other parts of Abia State or Igbo lands like old Bende, Anambra, Enugu, Imo State, or Ebonyi, regardless of their wealth or status, should never allow themselves to be deceived by Mr. Alex Otti to assume that they can mutate into the owners of Aba. By recklessly declaring that Aba is no man’s land, Otto is inadvertently setting Abia on fire and instigating avoidable unrest in that peaceful city.
“For reasons best known to him, he is ostensibly trying to stoke this fire of indigene and non-indigene dichotomy to further insult the Ngwa Nation and polarize the polity. Since his assumption of office, the governor’s penchant for playing to the gallery has been legendary. If he truly wants to patronize his fellow big men like Bourdex, Udeagbara, and others, he must not reduce them to canon fodders, thereby setting them up against the people.”
“Can Mr. Alex Otti go to Umuahia and tell the Ibeku and Ohuhu people that Umuahia North is no man’s land? Can he go to Owerri, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, or Warri and make such an inflammatory, nonsensical statement?”
