Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has dismissed the rumour that he was planning to dump the Labour Party (LP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the newly formed coalition powered by opposition politicians.

Also, following the announcement of a coalition led by the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, the party chairman in Osun State, Sunday Bisi, disclosed that Governor Ademola Adeleke has nothing to do with the group.

But APC chieftain, Osita Okechukwu, warned Nigerians against embracing the African Democratic Congress (ADC)-led coalition, saying the political hawks that devoured PDP were at work again, solely for state capture.

Otti cleared the air amid a wave of defections to the ruling party and the rising momentum of the opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 election.
Speaking at a dinner in Umuahia on Tuesday, Otti reaffirmed his commitment to LP, saying he’s not interested in defection.

The governor said he never attended any meeting of the coalition, due to his commitment to delivering his mandates to Abia people. He said: ‎“Members of the Global Economic Council have been asking me questions. One is about five governors defecting to APC. I am still a member of LP and I am not looking for where to defect to. The second is about coalition. People have been asking me, are you part of the coalition? My response is, have you seen my name? Have you seen me in the coalition’s meeting?

“We are just busy doing the work Abia people have given us. So, we are not attending any coalition meetings; I have not attended any, and nobody has invited me. I am happy where I am. Yes, we had issues. If you don’t have issues, you are dead. So, you wake up and there is one problem or another, you solve the problem. You don’t run away from a problem and pretend to have solved it.”

The LP governor also dismissed the narrative that his administration had been borrowing to run the state, noting that the state had not taken any new loan since he assumed office in May 2023.

The Atiku-led coalition recently announced links with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the political party to tackle APC in the 2027 general elections.

However, the PDP Chairman in Osun distanced the party from any coalition under whatever guise, saying PDP remains intact in the state.“We remain with PDP. Governor Ademola Adeleke also remains in the PDP. We are not going anywhere,” he said.

Meanwhile, reacting to the unveiling of the new ADC national coalition and its leaders in Abuja, Okechukwu described the agenda of the politicians behind the coalition as self-serving.

He said: “Nigerians should beware of the political hawks who regrettably devoured our sister political party, the PDP, by violently breaching the rotation convention of President from North to South and Section 7 of the PDP Constitution. They’re at it again solely for state capture; therefore, Nigerians beware.”

Okechukwu recalled that the intractable crises in the PDP were consequent upon the violent breach of the rotation convention of President from North to South and South to North, the guardrail of the Fourth Republic and Section 7 of the PDP Constitution.

Okechukwu, a foundation member of the APC, said the breach was solely to make one man President with uttermost disregard to equity, justice and sense of belonging, that’s our bond.

He noted that instead of remaining in the PDP to pick the pieces of the party, they are regrettably on the move again without a good governance agenda for the citizenry.