An Open Letter to Abia State Governor-Elect, Mr. Alex Otti -By Okike Benjamin

Congratulations to the Abia State Governor-elect, Mr. Alex Oti on your resounding victory over the Governorship and State Assembly elections held on 18^th march, 2023. Your election as the Governor of Abia State has shown that you are a man of destiny with the state even after your unalloyed victory in 2015, which was stolen by impunity promoters.

Also, I would like to congratulate my colleague, Prof. Mrs Nnenna Nnannaya Oti, the first female Vice chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Her display of fearlessness and courage in the Governorship and State Assembly Election that produced Mr. Alex Oti as the Governor-elect is worthy of emulation. No doubt, I have not had one-on-one interaction with Prof. Mrs Oti. Although, I believe she is one of the FUTO Management staff under Prof. Francis Eze, the then Vice Chancellor whom I met sometimes in 2020 when the National Universities Commission delegated me to carry out Resource Verification for the newly established Cyber Security Department of the university. It is interesting to note that Department of Cyber Security of Federal University, Owerri has produced the first Nigerian Honorary Professor in the person of Mr. Isah Pantami. Although, Honorary Professor Isah Pantami and I were at the Department of Mathematical Science Programme, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi. While he was an undergraduate student, I was a Ph. D. student

I have listened to people who argued that Prof. Mrs Oti is related to Mr. Alex Oti, hence the reason why she refused to compromise the Abia State Governorship election. I want to state categorically, that Prof. Mrs Nnenna Oti and Mr. Alex Oti are not related in any way. I doubt if both are from the same state. The Oti in their names are mere coincidence. Prof. Mrs Oti is just a virtuous woman who has refused to exchange her birth right for a pot of porridge as many others would have done..  May God continue to protect you and all members of your family Prpf.

One of the tasks before the Governor-elect, Mr. Alex Otti is to build an International Airport in the state. There is no doubt that Abia State is one of the few states in Nigeria without an Airport. Bearing in mind that Aba is a commercial city, building an Airport in Abia State would provide jobs for the unemployed youths of the state in addition to boosting the state revenue generation. Similarly, construction of good access roads to link up other cities to enhance the transportation of goods and services to and from Aba, the Southern business hub is another important task before the Governor-elect.

Once more, congratulations to the Otis.

Yours faithfully,

Okike Benjamin

Professor of Information Encryption/Cyber Security

University of Abuja.