Governor Alex Otti of Abia State says he does not want to be a political godfather and has assured that after his second tenure in 2031, his successor will be determined by Abia voters.

Otti stated this at the Labour Party State Secretariat in Umuahia on Thursday when he formally received the 2023 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Dr Ngozika Gladys Johnson-Chukwunenye, into the party.

Otti said, “What I can assure you is that by the time I am done, the person that will succeed me will be better than me. I don’t want to be a godfather.

“I don’t tolerate godfathers. So, some of the people are making noise because they will tell you to do this, and I say I will not do it. Sometimes when I say no, they will go back and be digging for something.

“We will all sit down, look at everybody and say, who is the best person for this job? And then all of us would agree. And we will campaign for him. He will win. We will take a back seat.”

The governor said, “I am not interested in any other thing. I don’t even want to go to Senate. I am not interested. Once I finish this one, I will retire. Why do I say so? I want the young people to take over.

“You will see young people between the ages of 16 and 25. You will see how smart our children are. So, these are the people that will take over from us. And they are being trained now for tomorrow. So, we can never go back.

“We should stop this sit-tight syndrome. There are smarter, more trained, better trained, better equipped younger people – our children. We need to give them opportunity. And that is what is important to us. It is not about money.”

Speaking on opposition criticisms, Otti said, “I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that we have literally restored those cities – Aba and Umuahia. And we are now moving into the hinterlands. And we will continue until we reach everywhere.

“Some dogs that are barking, we just ignore them. After barking, some of them will lose their voices. But then the ones we can cure, we will help to cure them.”

The governor recalled that Johnson-Chukwunenye contested the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the SDP, describing her participation as courageous, particularly as a woman seeking elective office.

Earlier, Dr Ngozika Gladys Johnson-Chukwunenye said her decision to join the Labour Party was to support Otti’s bid after closely following developments in the state and observing what she described as “changes under the present administration”.

She cited the payment of salary arrears, regular payment of workers’ salaries, attention to pensioners and the rehabilitation of roads in Umuahia and Aba as some of the developments that influenced her position.