The Governor of Abia, Dr Alex Otti says every society gets the type of leadership it deserves.
Otti spoke in Abuja on Sunday at The Transforming Church (TTC) in Gwarimpa, where he was a guest of Dr Sam Oye, the Lead Pastor of the church.
He said that time had gone when children of God would sit idly and allow persons who had no good mission for the society to take up leadership positions in the country.
“If you sit back and conclude that politics is for ‘them’, the politicians would determine your destiny for you,” he said.
He said that power belongs to God and as such, children of God should be involved in governance.
“There is a saying in the scripture that power belongs to God; if that is so, why are the children of God shying away from politics?
“From getting into politics and power, you can affect a lot of changes.
“As the former managing director of Diamond Bank, from 2011 to 2023, I could only affect a little population.
“But as a governor of a state today, I have a larger population of people to affect their lives for the good of the society.
“For instance, on coming in, we realised that our people were suffering; so, we identified 10,000 of them and put one billion naira into their hands cumulatively without any interest.
“By that, we created 10,000 jobs. Just recently too, we disbursed 365 million naira interest free loans to 300 farmers.
“All of these have changed the landscape, and I couldn’t have done them if I wasn’t in power,” he said.
Narrating the events preceding his assumption of power, he said that his election victory was essentially a divine arrangement by God.
The governor said that God used Oye to advise him to not only pray, but to also work hard.
“Most people only pray and go to sleep without working hard to achieve success.
“Just 48 hours to the election, the returning officer for Abia was changed and a woman professor from Owerri was brought to the state.
“I was a bit panicky, but didn’t know that God was rearranging things by using her to replace the former returning officer.
“Everything was done to influence this woman after the ballots were cast, but she refused to be influenced, until the correct results were announced and we were announced as winners on March 22, 2023.
“I want to thank Rev. Sam, his wife and entire TTC family for standing by me.
“I am, therefore, challenging all young men not to shy away from politics because that is where decisions that affect their lives are made,” Otti added. (NAN)
