Political parties are like churches— Otti

The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, has said he is not worried about the mass defection of members of the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress in the state.

 

He also said that political parties are like churches and anyone is free to join, adding that it was the Abia PDP that should worried that their members were leaving them.

 

The governor spoke on Thursday in Umuahia the state capital during his monthly media briefing tagged “Governor Alex Otti Speaks to Abians”.

 

He said he was more concerned with delivering governance to the state residents than the movement of the PDP members to APC.

 

Otti said, “Political parties are like churches and any church that you would like to go, you are free, I am not worried because they are not leaving my party, a lot of people are also joining my own party and more are on their way”

 

“Political parties are like free entry and free exit, we are not thinking about the next election it’s too early to start thinking about the next election, what is important is to give good governance to our people and they are at liberty to support whoever they want”

 

The governor also revealed that his administration has commenced the reconstruction of thirteen classrooms in each of the seventeen local government areas of the state with primary schools getting 10 while the secondary school gets three.

 

He said the state of most public schools in Abia was not conducive for learning for pupils.

 

The governor also revealed that his administration has increased the retirement age for teachers from 60 to 65 years and has started a package for teachers to make the teaching profession attractive in the state.

 

Otti said his administration is paying huge attention to the area of agriculture and healthcare.

 

“We have found well-qualified people to mount the healthcare agencies and have appointed a well-qualified doctor as a special adviser to the governor on health, so all the areas have been well populated and we have given them the mandate to ensure they work efficiently because health is wealth,” he said.

 

On the area of road infrastructure, the governor revealed that his administration has commenced the reconstruction of the Osisioma-Ekeakpara road and has so far completed the maintenance of over 70 roads in the state.