The Governor of Abia State, His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti, OFR, has sent his message of Solidarity and wishes of victory to the Labour Party Governorship Candidate in tomorrow’s election in Edo State, Barrister Olumide Akpata.

In his message of solidarity, Governor Otti expressed confidence that the LP Governorship candidate would emerge victorious in the election, becauce the people of the state have confidence in him and in the Labour Party.

Governor Otti assured Barr. Akpata that millions of Labour Party supporters in Abia and beyond are very much with him in spirit and will be praying for his victory as it would mark a historic turning point in the lives of Edo People.

Finally, Governor Otti also called on INEC to ensure that it conducts a free, fair and transparent election come tomorrow and enjoined all stakeholders and voters to ensure that peace reigns, before, during and after the election. He also appealed to the security agencies to maintain their professional neutrality in the process.

Ferdinand Ekeoma
Special Adviser to the Governor
(Media and Publicity)
September 20, 2024.

Security forces thwarted a reported assassination attempt on Henry Okojie, a federal representative for the Esan North-East/Esan South-East Federal Constituency in Edo State. The assailants were identified as armed individuals believed to be political operatives.

Michael Ihaza, Okojie’s media spokesperson, confirmed the incident in a statement released on Friday, September 20. He reported that Okojie, who is married to actress Mercy Johnson, was targeted at his home by gunmen in a Lexus GX 470 with Rivers State license plates – PHC 253 FF.

The statement emphasized that the planned attack “failed due to the prompt response of security personnel assigned to the lawmaker.”

Photo source: Instagram

The 87-year-old statesman made this demand while speaking virtually at the memorial lecture for Denis Joseph Slattery, a late cleric, in Lagos.

In his speech, titled The Imperative for Moral Rectitude in Governance, Obasanjo emphasized that the key requirement for anyone involved in governance is “accountability.” He argued that officials with “questionable” integrity are incapable of making decisions that benefit the greater good.

“If you look clinically at the people in government today at both executive and legislative levels, some of them should be permanently behind bars for their past misdemeanour and criminal misconduct,” said Obasanjo, who served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as president from 1999 to 2007. “You cannot expect thieves to give good judgement in favour of the owner of the property.”

Obasanjo also reflected on his shocking experiences with corruption, recalling how dishonesty was normalized in politics. “The first thing that shocked me when I went into politics was the level of corruption of election officials which was taken as normal,” he said. “The second was the level of general and criminal misbehaviour which was taken with levity and impunity. We were at a meeting and a man lied and I confronted him, and the next thing he said is ‘It is all politics, Sir’.”

Obasanjo lamented how politics has been used to justify unethical behaviour, adding, “Every bad thing they do is passed on as politics which means politics has no room for morality, principles, rectitude, ethics, good character and attributes.”

He concluded by urging Nigeria to seek “transformational leaders rather than transactional leaders, truth instead of lies, honesty instead of dishonesty, integrity instead of disintegrity, hope instead of despair, production instead of deduction, inclusion instead of exclusion and marginalisation.”