Peter Obi a great asset to our campaign – Alex Otti

Dr. Alex Otti, Abia State governor-elect, has described the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate in the February 25, 2023 Nigerian election, Mr. Peter Obi, as a great asset to his victory at the polls.

Dr. Otti, who spoke Thursday night while appearing on Channels Television interview programme, ‘Politics Today’, with Seun Okinbaloye, said both the former Anambra State governor and the Obidients were very helpful to his campaign for Abia governorship.

Responding to a question on whether he would have won the election without being in the same party with Obi, Otti said:

“Well, I’ll draw your attention back to 2015, when I ran under APGA, there was no Peter Obi and there was actually no (APGA) presidential candidate, and we have it on record that I won that election, landslide.

“As at the time we were joining Labour Party, Peter Obi had not joined and we didn’t know that Peter Obi was coming to Labour Party and it took about a week before he now called me and said he had just purchased a presidential nomination form and that he was coming to Labour Party.

“So, we were prepared to fight the way we fought in 2015 to ensure that we win. The votes we garnered in Abia could have been helped by Peter Obi, may be the margin would have been smaller and that is why it is important to always acknowledge Peter Obi because he came to Abia about four times, five times really, to campaign for us, even before the campaigns kicked off.

“When we did our annual banquet for the Alex Otti Foundation, the foundation that awards scholarships every year to tertiary institutions, he came and he was part of it, that was in July last year. He came again at the flag off of our campaign, that was in November. He came again and yet again.

“So, I think he has done well for us. Both the Obidients and himself did very well to support us and that is why even in the first election, out of the eight House of Representatives seats, we took six of them and sent some people on permanent retirement from politics and then in the senate we have one, hopefully, we’ll have another one by the time litigation closes.

“So, Peter Obi was a great addition to our campaign, but I can tell you that we have won election before in Abia State without him and since things have gotten worse (in Abia State) between 2015 and this time, I believe we would still have won.”