A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ken Ahia, alongside Chief Mike Akpara, Mr. Luke Ukara have been tipped to be in the cabinet of Abia State governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti, THE WHISPERER has gathered.
Also tipped to make the cabinet is the Director General of the Alex Otti Campaign Organization, Hon. Acho Obioma; Candidate of the Labour Party for Isialangwa South State Constituency, Hon. Ubani Dannie(Manja); Labour Party candidate for Abia North Senatorial District, Mr. Nnamdi Iro Orji (Opotoyom); Abia South senatorial candidate, Chinedu Onyeizu.
Otti was on 22 March declared the winner of the March 18 gubernatorial election by the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after securing a majority of votes cast
Otti polled 175,467 to defeat Okey Ahiwe, his closest rival and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 88,529 votes.
The victory is the first for the Labour Party in the March 18 governorship election across the federation.
The party had won in all the five south-east states — Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, and Ebonyi — in the presidential election.
Recall THE WHISPERER reported that Mr. Otti promised to use the governance model practiced by Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, when he was governor of Anambra State, to cut cost of running his government.
Otti, while appearing as a guest on Channels Television programme, Poltics Today, said the model of governance employed by Obi when he was governor between 2006 and 2014, would also be his model.
The former Diamond Bank MD said he would be frugal and economical with state funds to avoid wastage.
“My presidential candidate did very well in Anambra State because he reined in the cost of governance,” Otti said.
“And it’s the same kind of model that we are going to run in Abia. There are only so many jobs you can create in the public sector.”
On the task ahead of him, Otti said:
“I know that the enormity of work that is required in Abia is a lot and I wouldn’t want distractions. I’ve stayed there long enough to know that whenever you start a probe, you begin to get distracted,” the governor-elect said.
Speaking to THE WHISPERER on Friday, a source said some of Governor Ikpeazu’s loyalists and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have also indicated an interest in various positions.
Otti is expected to send the list of his commissioners to the Abia State House of Assembly within 60 days of his inauguration.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently signed a bill that requires governors to submit the names of persons nominated as commissioners within 60 days of taking the oath of office for confirmation by state house of assembly.
“I know for sure that Otti would pick Ken Ahia SAN, Chief Mike Akpara, Mr. Luke Ukara and possibly compensate Nnamdi Iro Orji (Opotoyom), Chinedu Onyeizu and Ubani Dannie with other positions,” the source said.
