THE THREE MUSKETEERS OF ABIA POLITICS
How Not to Govern a State
By any stretch of irony, Abia State has seen its own version of The Three Musketeers—not the gallant defenders of crown and country, but three former governors who mastered a different art: how not to govern.
Like Alexandre Dumas’ famous trio, they were bound by a slogan. Not “All for one, one for all,” but rather: “All for self, budget for none.”
For years, Abia was governed as a stage play—loud speeches, colourful press releases, endless political choreography—while infrastructure decayed, salaries staggered, and public finance became an abstract concept known only to a few.
Musketeer One: The Philosopher
This was the era of big grammar and small delivery. Governance became an academic exercise: committees without conclusions, visions without execution, and plans that never survived the first rainfall. Roads were “conceptual,” schools were “under review,” and hospitals existed mostly in speeches.
Abia learned that intelligence without action is governance malpractice.
Musketeer Two: The Political Acrobat
This Musketeer mastered balance—not fiscal balance, but political gymnastics. Budgets were passed, revised, and forgotten. Projects were announced with fanfare and abandoned with silence. The House of Assembly existed, but oversight was optional. Accountability was treated as opposition propaganda.
Abia learned that political survival without service is a fraud.
Musketeer Three: The Administrator of Decay
Here, governance was reduced to maintenance of failure. Salaries crawled, pensions groaned, and infrastructure surrendered. Aba, the economic heart of the state, was left to self-help. The state lived on borrowed time, borrowed money, and borrowed excuses.
Abia learned that administration without reform is slow sabotage.
ENTER THE ANTI-MUSKETEER
Governor Alex C. Otti did not arrive with a sword or a slogan. He arrived with spreadsheets, systems, and an inconvenient obsession with numbers.
Instead of theatrical governance, Abia got budget discipline.
Instead of opaque finances, Abia got process.
Instead of abandoned projects, Abia got sequencing and execution.
Critics shout “virement” as if it were a crime. But those who understand public finance know better: virement is not theft; it is correction. It is what serious governments do when inflation bites, FX shifts, and priorities must change—with legislative approval, not executive recklessness.
Unlike the Musketeers, Otti goes back to the House. He asks. He revises. He documents. That alone already separates governance from adventure.
THE DIFFERENCE IS VISIBLE
Under Otti:
Aba roads are no longer metaphors.
Salaries are paid, not explained.
Budgets are capital-heavy, not consumption-driven.
Long-term planning has replaced seasonal improvisation.
The Musketeers governed Abia like a political inheritance.
Otti governs Abia like a balance sheet.
That is why the old order is uncomfortable. Reform exposes nostalgia as incompetence.
SATIRE WITH A SERIOUS MESSAGE
This is not hatred.
This is contrast.
The Three Musketeers taught Abia how not to govern:
Talk more than you build.
Spend without structure.
Rule without reform.
Alex Otti is teaching Abia something different:
That governance is not drama. It is discipline.
And that lesson, more than any satire, is why the noise is loud—
and the progress, undeniable.
AProf Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke
