The first time I set my eyes on Alex Otti was on a sunny Saturday in 2005 at Surulere, Lagos. I was visiting a bosom friend, Otisi Ndukwo Kalu, best known as Abbott or Achinagbara Oha. A young man drove into the compound in a brand new Rover jeep, dressed in jeans and flying shirts.

Abbott introduced him to me as Alex Otti, a bank manager and a first class graduate of Economics, UNIPORT. What actually impressed me was the depth of respect Abbott focused on the guy who was obviously younger than us. A few years later, I got to know why. When first class in academics “jams” first class in the application of knowledge and wisdom, what you have is an amazing mix of talent and capacity.

About four years later, I met Alex Otti again, this time in Abbott’s magnificent country home in Abiriba. We were all home to join the train to Arochukwu, where Alex was being specially honoured. He had risen to Executive Director (East) of First Bank PLC. Everybody who was anybody in the bank was there – especially Chief Oba Otudeko (Chairman) and Chief Jacob Ajekigbe, former Group Managing Director. Indeed, the famous Director General of NAFDAC, Dr Dora Akunyili and her entire nuclear family, slept in Abbott’s Resorts, Abiriba, en route to Arochukwu.

Between 2008 and 2014, I was a party to numerous big events surrounding Alex Otti. These included when he was conferred with an honourary Doctorate degree by his alma mater, UNIPORT; and when he opened his country mansions in Arochukwu and Umuehim in Isiala Ngwa. During the latter, David Adeleke (Davido), his father and family members were in attendance. Davido performed gratis as a show of affection to Otti. This was in 2014 when Otti was already very close to embracing the political fray.

Over those years, what I saw of Otti was a very highly connected business leader who was capable of reaching just about anybody in virtually any part of the world. Speculations were that once he became First Bank GMD, the door would also open for him to be appointed Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor. However, the boardroom politics of First Bank favoured the emergence of Stephen Onasanya as Group MD despite Otti’s evidently better performance record. They offered him the headship of less fancied First Bank Holdings, which he rejected.  

In 2011, Diamond Bank PLC snapped Otti up with the offer of GMD. Within three years, he brought the bank from a sinking ship back to profitability. In March 2014, the bank extended his tenure for another three years.

That was when we, his friends and associates, came into the picture. We felt that Abia State needed Otti’s Midas touch and network reach to escape the forces of darkness that imprisoned it, especially from 1999. From a committee of three – Abbott, Nwaka Ogbonnaya and I, the committee widened to include some of Otti’s childhood friends and businessmen from other states. The consensus grew that Alex Otti must come into the political arena. The state needed him more than the bank did.

It was not an easy decision for him to abandon one of the most lucrative and prestigious jobs, but Otti eventually took up the challenge. From August 2014, he never looked back. The battle for Abia State lasted for nine years. He contested three times across four political parties – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, 2015; All Progressives Congress, APC(2019); and the Labour Party, LP(2023). He had won the 2015 election but PDP leaders came on live television to hijack the result in favour of Okezie Ikpeazu. He nearly suffered the same fate in March 2023 if not for the power of God. The Obidients and an indefatigable and incorruptible Abia State Returning Officer, Professor Nnenna Oti, stood firmly by the people’s mandate. The rest, as they say, is history.

Let me make something clear. People are celebrating Governor Alex Otti’s achievements daily in the social media not because he is doing what has not been done elsewhere. What they celebrate is the arrival of good leadership and governance in Abia State – at last! I am writing this tribute in celebration of a dream come true. What we saw in calling Dr Alex Otti to serve is what we are getting, possibly more than we bargained for. It is so unfortunate that Abbott is no longer with us to see our dream come true. The cold hands of death snatched him back in October 2015. God knows best.

Governor Otti is not building to win the next election. He is building a legacy of Dr Michael Okpara and Dr Sam Mbakwe proportions – a generational legacy. The Alex Otti impetus is shining throughout the South-East, with Enugu’s Governor Peter Mbah also pulling his weight. Even Anambra’s erstwhile sleepy Soludo has woken up of late. The South-East is moving faster than at any other time in its history.

Governor Otti practises what he preaches. When he was running in 2015, many people expected him to join the argument of Ngwa people’s “turn”, which was Ikpeazu and PDP’s main selling point. Otti made it clear that though he was an Ngwa Indigene, he was running on his merit, not sectional sentiment. Since he became Governor, he has also pursued merit, not identity politics. His abolition of the indigene/settler foolishness enabled him to put deserving non-indigenes in top posts as Mayors. He appointed as the Head of Service, Benson Ojeikere, whose track record of merit started as the best corps member years back.

Happy 60th birthday to Gov. Alex Otti. We found it – at last!