It has always been said that good name is better than gold.
This could be said of Alex Otti who would have commanded enormous goodwill and support in his political journey if he had maximized the benefits of the offices occupied in the past.
Otti’s lack of investment in the human capacity building while he called the shots in the banking industry has reverberated the validity of the saying that the deeds of men not only live after them, but with them.
While serving as the CEO of Diamond Bank and in many other capacities, he never thought a time like this would come when he would need the benevolence and testimony of numerous people he was privileged to meet.
Unfortunately, the former captain of the banking industry focused on himself and himself or rather chose to be the conduit pipe for those who raped Abia State’s economy.
Granted, Alex Otti may have exhibited high level of personal commitment, prudence, integrity, simplicity and honesty while striving to rise to the zenith of his banking career, but the question remains as to how many poor people did he take out of the street? Did he have any identity among his people? Was his name mentioned anywhere in his community, either in Arochukwu or Isiala Ngwa South LGAs or in the entire state when Corporate Social Responsibility was discussed? How has he suddenly become so liberal as to become the messiah to those he never knew in his heydays?
One thing my father told me is that ambidexterity is not an old-age craft. One serious campaign that the Anti Alex Otti group mounted seriously against him is the fact that he was, as a bank CEO, a capital front for those who looted and milked Abia State economy and other state economies dry before the advent of the present administration.
They have maintained that the stupendous wealth he flaunts in his campaign since 2015 mostly came from his share of the booty; as a reward for a perfect financial escapade.
Who is to blame for the current state of Abia State and Nigeria?
The present condition of Abia needs an astute and efficient manager of material and human resources. Titbits from close associates of Alex Otti and those who worked with him have elicited such questions as:
- Why did those who campaigned with him in 2015 and 2019 abandon him in 2023?
- How does he manage human and material resources?
- If he could not use his exalted positions in the banking industry to positively affect his “communities”, how does he intend to learn the tact of impactful leadership if elected governor?
In fact, because of the inherent dynamism and unpredictability of human nature, inherent desire and innate ability to manage human beings and influence their lives and pattern them in a particular resourceful way is the greatest art of leadership much more important than the inordinate and unpatterned quest for a mere power grab. No man is perfect in life.
While we can all claim to be apostles of good governance, we will excuse ourselves from the blunder of foisting leadership of another character perfectly symbolic of jumping from frying pan to fire.
