Governor Alex Otti’s aide, Christian Anokwuru, says the opposition plotting to unseat the governor in 2027 is merely chasing shadows.

Mr Anokwuru, special adviser to the governor on policies and interventions, said this during a news briefing in Umuahia on Sunday.

He was reacting to the spate of criticisms and vicious media attacks against the governor by the leading opposition chieftains in Abia, including former Governor Orji Kalu of the All Progressives Congress.

Mr Anokwuru said, “It is a long-established principle in both law and public life that anyone who demands equity must come with clean hands. This principle is particularly relevant in the current political climate in Abia state.

“When former executive governors and past political officeholders, whose administrations are still fresh in the collective memory of the people, congregate to challenge the present administration of Alex Otti, the public is entitled to interrogate not just their claims, but also their credibility.”

Mr Anokwuru added, “It is expected that an opposition made up of past governors and political officeholders should build their argument against a sitting government based on their own achievements in the past, rather than relying on name-dropping of President Tinubu and Renewed Hope.”

“It serves as a check on power, sharpens governance, and protects public interest. However, opposition loses its moral force when it is driven by selfishness and bitterness rather than facts, and by personal resentment rather than policy-based critique.”

Mr Anokwuru noted that opposition politics should be built on ideas, track records, and alternative visions.

“When individuals, who should speak from the strength of their own achievements, instead lean on external executive power, it signals an absence of substance. Federal proximity cannot substitute for local legitimacy, nor can it erase the lived experiences of the people under previous administrations,” he explained.

The aide said that Abia deserved “an opposition that is intellectually honest, fact-driven and rooted in the welfare of the people”.

He noted that anything short of that “is not opposition in the true sense, but a reactionary alliance struggling to remain relevant in the face of changing political realities”.

“When opposition shifts from principled criticism to deliberate misinformation, it ceases to be a democratic asset and becomes a personal vendetta,” stated Mr Anokwuru.

(NAN)