Controversy trails alleged threat to Otti’s life

PETER OKORE, Umuahia

The allegation by the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti that his life is under threat after gunmen stormed his residence killing a policeman on duty is now generating controversy within and outside Abia.

Otti had said that he escaped assassination when suspected assassins attacked his Abuja residence, but the Abia State government through the chief press secretary, Mr. Goddy Adindu described the allegation as laughable.

It said that Otti is only trying to weep up sentiments to attract the sympathy of the security agencies and electoral tribunal to his disastrous petition.

Briefing journalists in Umuahia last Friday, Otti said that gunmen suspected to be hired assassins; early morning of July 24^th stormed his private guest house at Abuja and killed one policeman.

The incident took place just a few hours after Otti left Abuja unannounced for a tribunal matter before the Abia Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia.

Otti was the Abia State governorship candidate of the APGA in the last election. He is now challenging the results of that election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal.

Briefing newsmen in Umuahia on the assassination attempt, Otti alleged that the gunmen, who numbered about 10 in number, came into the premises through the back fence at about 2 am that fateful day. He disclosed that they scaled through the fence and made straight to the master’s bedroom in the house.

The APGA governorship candidate said during the encounter that one of the policemen attached to the house was shot and he allegedly died on the spot. He said it was during the search in the rooms, which attracted some noise that the policeman was shot and later died in the pool of his own blood. He said the body has since been taken away by the police authorities, who have also started their investigations. According to the former bank managing director, the details of the incident are stills sketchy.

”If I had spent Thursday in that house, God forbid, what the story would have been. When they ransacked the whole house and did not find anybody, they left. The police have stepped into the matter. They have already invited some people for questioning. I believe the out-come of their investigation would be made known soon.

It is very clear that the act is an assassination attempt on me. But God has made it impossible for them to locate me. I thank God that I am alive.  Every such evil imagination will fail. I feel the public should know about this incident at this time. Obviously, somebody did it. There had been pockets of threats to my life, but not to this magnitude where the security man attached to the house is shot and killed, he stressed.

Let the security authorities investigate this assassination attempt on my life and know where it is coming from, as well as know who is exactly behind the incident and stop it”.

However, the Abia State government has described as ridiculous Otti’s claim on threat to Life. Mr. Adindu, in a ppress release debunked the claim by Otti, that there was an attempt on his life in his private guest house in Abuja.

Adindu said Otti is merely trying to whip up sentiments to attract the sympathy of the security agencies and the electoral tribunal to his disastrous petition, saying his lamentation is the cry of a drowning man.

Otti had, last Friday, in Umuahia addressed a press conference where he alleged that his private guest house in Abuja was attacked and a policeman attached to the guest house killed by unknown gunmen.

But, the CPS to the Abia governor said his enquiries with the Force Public Relations Officer (FPPRO), Mr. Emma Ojukwu, revealed that the incident did not exactly take place at Otti’s guest house neither was the policeman of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) killed in Otti’s residence.

“I have spoken with the Force PRO, Mr. Emma Ojukwu and he confirmed to me that there was an attack in the Maitama area of Otti’s private guest house, but that the attack was not exactly at his residence and that the policeman killed was not killed in his residence,” declared Adindu.

Adindu disclosed that the FPPRO also confirmed that some houses were attacked but not the guest house of Otti, adding that the APGA governorship candidate was not even around at the time of the incident. “The Force PRO was firm that the attack was not targeted at Otti and was not targeted at his guest house,” Adindu stated.

The CPS further disclosed that the FPPRO confirmed that the policeman was killed in the building housing NESTOIL, which is a totally different compound from where Otti’s guest house is located.

Adindu said Otti’s claim is part of his grand plan to influence the tribunal through “emotional pressure” to move the sittings to Abuja, adding that all his clandestine moves are already well know to the PDP in Abia and will be thoroughly checkmated.

He accused the APGA governorship candidate of indulging in diversionary tactics to whip up sentiments and move attention away from the main issues at the tribunal, adding that he has seen the handwriting on the wall, that his petition is “irredeemably disastrous.”

Adindu reiterated that Abia has been relatively peaceful and that there has been adequate security coverage for the tribunal and the temporary residence of the officials, adding that the police has not had any challenge in providing security to necessitate any contemplation of relocating the sittings which is the grand plan or Mr. Otti.