“Governor Otti Has No Challenger In 2027, His Works Have Marketed Him” — Chief Iheanyi Chinasa

The Abia State Chief Liaison Officer, Chief Iheanyi Chinasa says that the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti has no challenger in the 2027 gubernatorial elections in the state.

Chief Chinasa made the assertion on Tuesday during a palley with Abia State Radio and Television Executives (ARTEX).

According to him, the achievements of Governor Otti since assumption of office in 2023 speak volumes and make it easier to market the governor.

The former House of Representatives candidate of the Labour Party for Bende federal Constituency in the 2023 elections, said with visible transformation going on in the state, there is “nobody” to challenge the governor in 2027.

He enumerated various signature projects of the present administration in Abia State, led by Dr Alex Otti, including Port Harcourt Road and other major roads in the commercial hub of the state, the Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Abiriba road, the Omenuko bridge and the Abam-Arochukwu among others.

He also pointed at the reforms in the education, health and other sectors of the state.

On the issue of real-time electronic transmission of election results, Chief Iheanyi Chinasa questioned the rationale behind citing poor network coverage by senators as reason for not making it mandatory.

He affirmed that his hometown, Uzuakoli, in Bende local government area of Abia State has a good network coverage for real-time electronic transmission of election results.

Recall that the Senate Leader, Bamidele Opeyemi had explained that the reason for not making real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory is because of poor network coverage in most parts of the country.

Reacting to this, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators in Nigeria, ALTON, the umbrella body of the telcos, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, said that any information about the telecom infrastructure and country coverage not emanating from the NCC could not be relied upon.

His words: “Upon which survey or statistics is the Senate coming up with its position of inadequate telecom infrastructure? As we speak today, over 70% of the country is covered with 3G and 4G, and 5G have about 11% coverage and the rest is 2G.

“Even in reality, 2G is strong enough to transmit results electronically. I do not know where the Senate is getting its information but we can’t take that blanket ban on electronic transmission based on a half-truth about our infrastructure and investments.

“We agree that there are just maybe about two states that, due to insurgency, that our members cannot risk going to maintain facilities. But that is what all stakeholders can sit together and decide how to cover those places. It’s not enough to say the country is not ready for electronic transmission.’’

Adebayo‘s position tallies with that INEC, which in 2022 dismissed the fears, saying where there were network challenges, results uploaded to iREV would transmit once the machines were within areas with network coverage