THE NAKED PROPAGANDA OF A FAILED POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT
The latest attack on Governor Alex Otti is a desperate mixture of distorted figures, false comparisons, political bitterness and deliberate misuse of public-policy terminology. Its author wants Abians to forget the deplorable condition in which the state was handed over in May 2023 and accept the astonishing claim that the same administration rebuilding roads, schools, hospitals and public institutions has brought nothing but misery. Unfortunately for the propagandists, political insults cannot erase visible evidence.
The description of Governor Otti as a “naked man promising clothes” is particularly ridiculous. A naked man cannot reconstruct Port Harcourt Road in Aba after decades of abandonment. A naked man cannot restore long-neglected roads, rehabilitate public schools, improve healthcare facilities, sanitise Aba and Umuahia, pay workers regularly and rebuild confidence in the government of Abia State.
The truly naked government was the one that left workers with salary arrears, pensioners without their entitlements, major roads impassable, schools dilapidated, hospitals struggling and Aba buried beneath refuse. What Governor Otti inherited was not paradise. It was a state weighed down by abandoned infrastructure, unpaid obligations, institutional decay and years of political excuses.
To suggest that Abians lived in paradise under the previous administration is not merely dishonest; it is an insult to the workers who repeatedly protested over unpaid salaries, the pensioners who waited endlessly for their entitlements, the motorists who endured collapsed roads and the businesses that suffered because of decaying public infrastructure. Paradise does not owe workers for months. Paradise does not leave pensioners begging for benefits earned through decades of public service. Paradise does not abandon strategic commercial roads while its officials issue endless promises.
Governor Otti did not promise to solve every inherited problem through magic. He promised responsible leadership, prudent management, institutional reform and measurable progress. The evidence of that progress is visible across Abia State. His administration’s development priorities can also be seen in the 2026 budget, in which approximately 80 per cent of the proposed ₦1.016 trillion expenditure was assigned to capital projects, while about 20 per cent was assigned to recurrent expenditure. This is the financial structure of a government prioritising infrastructure and long-term development, not one consumed by political propaganda. See Premium Times, “Gov Otti presents N1.016 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to Assembly,” November 25, 2025.
The administration also allocated 20 per cent of the 2026 budget to education. Governor Otti explained that education remained the fulcrum of his administration and that investments were being made in teacher recruitment, school rehabilitation, hostel renovation and other educational reforms. These are not the actions of a government without direction. They are investments in the future of Abia’s children. See Premium Times, “Why I allocated 20% of Abia’s 2026 budget to education – Otti,” December 11, 2025.
The attempt to portray every statutory deduction from workers’ salaries as theft by the Otti administration is equally misleading. A contributory pension deduction is not money seized by government for general expenditure. It is a contribution towards the worker’s retirement savings, accompanied by an employer contribution. The purpose of a properly managed contributory pension system is to prevent today’s workers from becoming tomorrow’s abandoned pensioners.
The old pension arrangement failed precisely because successive governments accumulated liabilities without building a sustainable mechanism for funding retirement benefits. Anyone genuinely concerned about workers should demand transparent remittance, proper record-keeping and effective management of individual retirement accounts. It is dishonest to describe the very idea of funded retirement savings as an assault on workers while ignoring the decades of suffering produced by an unfunded pension system.
The same distortion is applied to health insurance. Health insurance contributions are designed to pool resources so that workers and their dependants can obtain medical treatment without bearing the full cost at the point of illness. Where an enrolled worker experiences difficulty accessing an accredited healthcare facility, the specific facility, enrollee and administrative problem should be identified and corrected. Individual service-delivery complaints should not be manipulated into a sweeping declaration that the entire healthcare-financing programme is fraudulent.
The allegation concerning the National Housing Fund must equally be supported by verifiable documentary evidence. Anyone claiming that deductions have not been remitted should produce payroll schedules, remittance records, audited statements or official correspondence from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. Serious allegations about public finance should not rest solely on politically charged social-media assertions.
The most revealing falsehood in the attack is the claim that the Otti administration “allocated” ₦200 million, ₦150 million, ₦100 million, ₦50 million and ₦20 million for campaign advertisements. The government did not allocate these amounts from public funds to political candidates. They are campaign advertising permit fees payable by candidates seeking to display regulated outdoor campaign materials.
A government budgetary allocation and a regulatory permit charge are entirely different. An allocation represents government expenditure. A permit fee represents a charge payable by an individual or organisation seeking approval to undertake a regulated activity. Presenting the permit schedule as money removed from workers’ salaries and allocated to politicians is either a demonstration of poor understanding of public finance or a deliberate effort to deceive Abians.
The Abia State Structures for Signages and Advertising Agency announced that presidential candidates seeking outdoor political advertising permits would pay ₦200 million; governorship candidates, ₦150 million; senatorial candidates, ₦100 million; House of Representatives candidates, ₦50 million; and State House of Assembly candidates, ₦20 million. The agency stated that the schedule would apply to candidates of all political parties throughout the approved campaign period. See TheCable, “‘N200m for presidential candidates, N100m for senators’ — Abia fixes campaign permit fees,” July 30, 2026.
The government further explained that the policy was intended to regulate outdoor advertising, protect lives and road users, preserve the physical appearance of Abia’s cities and provide transparent and equal access to political advertising. It expressly stated that the government would not discriminate against any political party or candidate. See Premium Times, “Abia fixes N200m for presidential campaign billboard permit,” July 30, 2026.
Those facts are fundamentally different from the political environment in which Alex Otti campaigned in 2022. At that time, the Labour Party stated that it complied with the requirements of the Abia State Signage and Advertisement Agency and paid the prescribed ₦10 million fee to the PDP-controlled state government. The party further maintained that the licensed advertising vendors it contracted had also paid the required charges.
Despite those payments, the Labour Party alleged that its billboard at Umuikaa Junction, along the Aba–Port Harcourt Expressway, was removed by agents of the government. The Guardian reported the incident under the headline, “Abia LP accuses government of removing campaign billboards despite making prescribed payments,” on September 15, 2022.
The claim that Alex Otti paid the ₦10 million fee was subsequently confirmed by the then signage agency itself. In a report published by The Guardian on September 19, 2022, the agency acknowledged that Otti had duly paid the ₦10 million permit charge, although it attempted to justify the dispute by raising issues concerning the vendor, the positioning of the billboard and the campaign message. See The Guardian, “Abia signage agency faults multiple candidates in campaign billboards, posters.”
The historical record therefore establishes a crucial point: Alex Otti did not refuse to comply with the signage regulations imposed by the PDP administration. He paid the prescribed amount. His campaign maintained that its vendors also paid the required fees. Yet his campaign materials still became the subject of removal and controversy.
Those who now condemn the Otti administration must consequently answer some important questions. Where were they when Otti paid ₦10 million and his billboard was nevertheless removed? Where were their voices when the Labour Party complained of political intimidation? Did they demand that the PDP government restore the affected billboard? Did they call for a refund of the money reportedly paid? Did they insist on equal treatment for every political party?
Many of the politicians now operating within the Abia APC were influential members, supporters or beneficiaries of the PDP establishment that governed the state during the 2022 campaign period. Defection to another political party does not erase their political history. They cannot suddenly present themselves as defenders of democratic fairness while pretending that the use of signage regulation against political opponents began under Governor Otti.
The crucial distinction is clear. The present administration has publicly announced a general permit structure and declared that it will apply to all candidates and parties. Under the previous PDP administration, Otti’s campaign stated that it paid the prescribed fee, complied with the relevant requirements and still had its billboard removed.
One is a publicly announced regulatory framework. The other was an allegation of selective political obstruction after payment had already been made. No amount of political spin can make the two situations identical.
Political campaign advertising is a major commercial activity. Candidates spend considerable amounts on vehicles, rallies, radio and television appearances, social-media promotion, posters, billboards, consultants, branded materials and mobilisation. The state has both the right and responsibility to regulate the location, safety, environmental impact and physical standards of outdoor advertising structures.
No political candidate has an unrestricted right to deface public buildings, road infrastructure, traffic facilities or private property. Political participation does not exempt candidates from environmental, safety and advertising regulations. A campaign permit is therefore not, by itself, evidence of dictatorship or political persecution.
The opposition PDP has described the newly announced charges as excessive and has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to intervene. That is its democratic right. However, its criticism cannot erase its own record. A political party that reportedly collected ₦10 million from an opposition governorship campaign and presided over a system in which the candidate’s billboard was still removed lacks the moral standing to discuss the present policy without first acknowledging what happened in 2022. See TheCable, “Abia PDP asks INEC to intervene over Otti’s ‘outrageous’ outdoor advertising fees,” July 31, 2026.
The claim that Governor Otti’s administration routinely receives more than ₦45 billion every month from the Federation Account also requires proper documentary substantiation. Political writers must not combine funds allocated to the state government with constitutionally separate allocations belonging to the 17 local government councils and then present the total as money personally controlled by the governor.
State and local government allocations are separate public funds. Combining them to produce a politically convenient monthly figure is misleading. Furthermore, comparing the nominal naira value of allocations received under different administrations without accounting for inflation, exchange-rate depreciation, wage increases and higher construction costs is economically unsound.
Seven billion naira received under an earlier price environment cannot be mechanically compared with a higher nominal figure in 2026 as though both amounts possessed the same purchasing power. The proper questions are what each administration prioritised, what it delivered and whether the public can identify the results.
Under Governor Otti, Abians can point to reconstructed roads, renewed attention to schools and hospitals, improved sanitation, regular public-sector salary payments, institutional reforms and substantial capital investment. Under the previous administration, Abians repeatedly heard that inadequate federal allocation explained salary arrears, pension difficulties and abandoned infrastructure.
Governor Otti’s critics cannot have it both ways. They cannot excuse the previous administration’s failures on the ground that it received limited resources while condemning the current government for increasing revenue, enforcing regulations and investing heavily in visible development.
The prophecy of catastrophe made in 2023 has failed. The predicted collapse of Abia did not happen. Instead, the state’s commercial cities have regained national attention for infrastructure renewal. Long-abandoned roads have received intervention. Education and healthcare have become major areas of budgetary investment. Public institutions are being rebuilt, and confidence in the capacity of government to deliver is gradually returning.
The real fear behind these attacks is not concern for workers or opposition parties. It is the growing realisation that the old political establishment may be unable to return to power through recycled propaganda.
They call contributory pensions suffering because previous governments failed to create a dependable pension system. They call health insurance punishment because earlier administrations failed to establish sustainable healthcare financing. They call signage regulation dictatorship after presiding over an era in which Otti’s billboard was removed despite the confirmed payment of the prescribed ₦10 million charge.
No amount of abuse can transform yesterday’s misrule into paradise. No cleverly chosen proverb can repair abandoned roads, clear salary arrears or erase pension liabilities accumulated over many years. No politically motivated article can erase the visible transformation taking place across Abia State.
Governor Alex Otti did not inherit paradise. He inherited a state in urgent need of repair. He did not come with imaginary clothes; he came with the discipline, competence and political courage required to rebuild damaged institutions.
The people who stripped Abia of development for years are in no position to accuse the man repairing the state of nakedness. The only thing naked in this debate is the propaganda—and Abians can see through it.
REFERENCES
The Guardian, September 15, 2022. “Abia LP accuses government of removing campaign billboards despite making prescribed payments.”
The Guardian, September 19, 2022. “Abia signage agency faults multiple candidates in campaign billboards, posters.”
THISDAY, September 14, 2022. “Otti Cries out over Destruction of Billboard after Paying N10m to Abia Govt.”
New Dawn Nigeria, December 3, 2022. “Abia pulls down Otti’s billboard, arrests director.”
TheCable, July 30, 2026. “‘N200m for presidential candidates, N100m for senators’ — Abia fixes campaign permit fees.”
Premium Times, July 30, 2026. “Abia fixes N200m for presidential campaign billboard permit.”
TheCable, July 31, 2026. “Abia PDP asks INEC to intervene over Otti’s ‘outrageous’ outdoor advertising fees.”
Premium Times, November 25, 2025. “Gov Otti presents N1.016 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill to Assembly.”
Premium Times, December 11, 2025. “Why I allocated 20% of Abia’s 2026 budget to education – Otti.”
