By Foster Obi
...Why 2027 is no contest
In barely two years, Governor Alex Otti has achieved what successive administrations failed to deliver in two decades, infrastructure renewal, transport innovation, stable electricity, fiscal discipline, and restored public confidence. As political pretenders posture for 2027, Abians appear united on one verdict: performance has settled the contest. This is why the recent gathering of old but disgruntled politicians under the guise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia is laughable. (I have never laughed in a long while until I saw them in their big stomachs and veiled agenda. What a tragedy!
At the risk of digressing, when Governor Alex Chioma Otti took the oath of office on May 29, 2023, Abia State was a metaphor for institutional collapse, broken roads, darkness across communities, a paralysed economy, and a citizenry conditioned to expect nothing from government.
Today, barely two years later, Abia tells a radically different story.
Across Aba, Umuahia, Ohafia, Isuikwuato and the hinterlands, roads have returned, lights are back on, public transport is modernised, commerce is alive, and confidence in government has been restored. What once looked impossible has become routine governance.
This dramatic turnaround is why Governor Otti’s re-election in 2027 is no longer a matter of speculation but of inevitability.
INFRASTRUCTURE: FROM SYMBOL OF FAILURE TO ENGINE OF GROWTH
For years, Abia’s road network symbolised neglect. Under Otti, it has become a statement of intent.
Hundreds of kilometres of roads have been reconstructed across all 17 local governments, reconnecting markets, easing logistics, cutting travel time, and restoring dignity to daily life. Aba, once written off as an urban embarrassment, is witnessing its most comprehensive road rehabilitation in decades, with Port Harcourt Road, Osisioma axis, and inner-city arteries now fully motorable. God have mercy, so Aba could transform like this?
Flood control, drainage works, and urban renewal projects have further reinforced this physical rebirth.
TRANSPORT INNOVATION: NIGERIA’S FIRST STATE-OWNED ELECTRIC BUSES
In a bold and unprecedented move, Abia became the first Nigerian state to deploy state-owned electric buses for public transportation.
The electric bus initiative, clean, quiet, affordable, and climate-friendly has redefined urban mobility in Umuahia and Aba. Beyond easing transportation costs, it positions Abia as a forward-looking sub-national economy aligned with global sustainability trends.
Charging infrastructure is already in place, with plans to expand the fleet and routes. The message is unmistakable: Abia is no longer catching up, it is setting the pace.
POWER SECTOR REVOLUTION: 24-HOUR ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY AUTONOMY
Perhaps the most life-changing reform under Otti is in electricity.
Several communities and up to eight local governments now enjoya near-24-hour power supply, a development previously unthinkable in Abia. Areas that languished in darkness for up to nine years have been reconnected, restoring economic and social life.
More significantly, Otti has established the Abia State Electricity Commission, asserting regulatory control over the state’s power market. This structural reform lays the foundation for round-the-clock electricity across all 17 LGAs, reduces dependence on generators, and accelerates industrial growth.
For traders, manufacturers, hospitals and households, this is not policy theory, it is lived relief.
ECONOMY, HEALTH, EDUCATION: GOVERNANCE THAT TOUCHES LIVES
Beyond roads and power, Otti’s reforms extend deep into human development: Rebuilt and equipped primary healthcare centres across communities, renovated schools and added classrooms, Prompt payment of salaries and pensions, Transparent budgeting and disciplined public finance, and improved security through coordinated interventions.
The result is a renewed social contract between government and the people, one built on trust, delivery, and accountability.
2027 POLITICS: EMPTY BOASTS MEET COLLECTIVE MEMORY
Against this backdrop of performance, recent political gatherings by the APC and disgraced PDP figures, claiming readiness to “upstage” Otti in 2027, have been widely dismissed across Abia.
Abians remember.
They remember 20 years of regression, when governance meant sharing public funds, roads collapsed, power disappeared, and Aba, the state’s economic heart, was abandoned. They know those who presided over that decline, and they have no appetite for a return to that era.
Attempts at de-marketing, propaganda, or political theatre are unlikely to gain traction. The contrast between then and now is too stark.
Indeed, public sentiment suggests that any aggressive street-level campaign by the old order would meet fierce resistance, not persuasion. Abians have seen progress and they are fiercely protective of it.
A GOVERNOR IN A CLASS OF HIS OWN
Today, many observers describe Alex Otti as the best governor Abia State has ever produced, comparable only to late Sam Mbakwe of the old Imo State, a leader remembered for vision, courage, and people-centred infrastructure.
Like Mbakwe, Otti governs with legacy in mind, not electoral arithmetic.
PERFORMANCE HAS DECIDED 2027
In politics, promises win elections once. Performance wins them twice.
Governor Alex Otti has not just governed Abia; he has restored its self-belief. Roads, power, transport, services, and dignity have returned, and with them, an unshakeable bond between leader and people.
As 2027 approaches, Abians are not asking who to trust, they already know.
