Abia Labour Party Denies Claims Governor Otti Is Supporting Tinubu’s 2027 Re-election Bid
The Abia State chapter of the Labour Party has strongly refuted claims that Governor Alex Otti is backing President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign ahead of the 2027 general elections.
This response comes after Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, reportedly stated that all five governors from the South-East, regardless of political party, are in support of President Tinubu’s second-term bid.
Speaking to journalists in Umuahia on Thursday, Abia Labour Party Chairman, Mazi Emmanuel Otti, dismissed Umahi’s comments as speculative and not representative of Governor Otti’s official stance. “What Umahi said was not a declaration of support but a prediction. He said, ‘they will,’ which is just his personal assumption. We have not heard anything of that nature directly from the governor,” Mazi Otti clarified.
The remarks follow Senator Umahi’s comments at the South-East Zonal Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held earlier in the week in Enugu, where he suggested that South-East governors were united behind Tinubu’s re-election ambition.
Addressing concerns about Governor Otti inviting President Tinubu to commission the reconstructed Port Harcourt Road in Aba, Mazi Otti explained that the gesture was purely administrative. “The President commissioning projects in a state is standard practice. Abia remains part of Nigeria, and the President’s involvement in such events is within his jurisdiction,” he stated.
Asked whether any political endorsements could be made during the President’s visit, Mazi Otti declined to speculate, saying, “We’ll wait and hear what is actually said when the President visits.”
