OPINION: Much Ado About Governor Otti And The Prophets Of Baal

By Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba

There comes a time in the life of a people when political rhetoric must give way to memory, evidence and statesmanship.

There is a wise saying in our Ngwa tradition that “a rumour does not become truth because it is repeated; its meaning lies in what can be established behind it”. In other words, the danger is not merely in the person who makes an allegation, but in those who spread it, interpret it, accept it, embellish it, and eventually present it as established fact.

Last month, eight prominent Ngwa sons and daughters from different parts of the world circulated a video in which Chief Charles Ogbonna was heard alleging that Governor Alex Otti told him that the people of Ngwaland were “brainless.”

That is an extraordinarily serious allegation.

My first instinct was to ignore it as a bar-room talk. My second was to enquire.

I chose to enquire.

I confronted Governor Otti with the allegation. His response was unequivocal as he denied saying it.
The Abia State Government has also publicly denied the allegation and challenged Chief Charles Ogbonna to produce the evidence he said he possessed.

I have known Governor Otti for years. We have agreed on some things and disagreed on others. Our political disagreements were, at one point, serious enough to produce litigation that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Yet political disagreement has never prevented me from distinguishing between what I know, what I believe and what I merely hear. That distinction is important today.

The biblical story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal was not ultimately about who could shout the loudest. It was about putting competing claims to a test. And knowing which God answereth by fire.
That is the spirit in which I believe this controversy should be approached.
Who has defended Ngwa interests? Who has contributed to Ngwa political aspirations? Who has supported the development and dignity of our people? These questions cannot be answered by the loudest voice, the most emotional video or the most dramatic political anecdote. They must be examined against the record.

When democracy returned in 1999, Abia Central became one of the principal theatres of political power. Several strategic positions associated with Abia Central, including the Speakership, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff, presidential advisory positions, NDDC chairmanship, ministerial appointments and other influential offices, were occupied by people from the Umuahia component of the Central Senatorial Zone.

The issue was never whether Umuahia people were entitled to political participation. Of course they were.
The question was whether political equity meant anything when one component repeatedly appeared to enjoy the principal benefits of an arrangement that was supposed to serve a wider political constituency.

Between 2001 and 2003, I was directly involved in the political disagreement between Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, then Deputy Governor and Governor respectively. The disagreement had begun to affect the broader relationship between Old Bende and Ukwa-Ngwa.
I intervened because I believed reconciliation was preferable to political war.
That intervention gave birth to the Great Ukwa-Ngwa Declaration at Enyimba Township Stadium, Aba. The understanding was that Old Bende would complete its political cycle and Ukwa-Ngwa would thereafter have the opportunity to produce the governor.

I remember travelling to Ohuru at about 1 a.m. to seek Senator Abaribe’s understanding and buy-in on key issues. He told me that I was the only Ukwa-Ngwa son in government who had visited him since the crisis erupted. I eventually resigned from government in 2003.
I did so because I believed the political understanding was being undermined, among other reasons. I chose principle over the comfort of office. The expected transition did not occur in 2007. Instead, Theodore Orji emerged as governor, and the political understanding upon which many Ukwa-Ngwa leaders had relied was not fulfilled. Charles Ogbonna’s name was central.

I subsequently challenged the government in the 2011 governorship election. I have consistently maintained that although I won that election, the result was subverted.
I mention these things not to celebrate myself, but to establish a simple point that my engagements with the question of Ngwa political equity did not begin with Dr Alex Otti. I have been involved in these questions for decades.

In 2015, Okezie Ikpeazu became the first Ngwa person elected governor of Abia State. Whatever one’s assessment of his administration, history cannot erase the significance of that milestone. It represented the fulfilment of a long-standing Ngwa political aspiration.

When his second-term ambition came under threat in 2019, I again became involved.
I convened the second Great Ukwa-Ngwa Declaration at Okpuala Ngwa, bringing together prominent Ukwa-Ngwa leaders and stakeholders. The gathering was publicly reported and endorsed Ikpeazu’s second-term aspiration.

Again, I was acting from a conviction that political equity matters.

So when people present themselves as the newest custodians of Ngwa interest because another election is approaching, Ngwa people are entitled to ask questions, not questions of hatred or ethnicity, but questions of history.

My relationship with Dr Alex Otti is also part of this history.
Between 2015 and 2023, we had extensive discussions about the future of Abia, particularly Aba, Isiala Ngwa and the wider Ngwa area. We did not always agree. We disagreed over political strategies and candidates. We fought political battles. We went to court.
But disagreement did not prevent me from recognising what I personally observed about his development vision for Abia, and how highly he regards our people.

Governor Otti that I know is not petty, and cannot say that nonsense about the Ngwa people.

In 2023, he visited me three times in Lagos and once in my village, on those occasions accompanied by Ken Ahia, SAN. Our discussions centred largely on peace, security, development and the welfare of Abia people. When he visited my Heaven Is Real Country Home in Ntigha in June this year, those conversations continued. I therefore do not have to agree with every political position of Governor Otti to acknowledge qualities I have personally observed: his love for our people, his seriousness about development, his attention to infrastructure, his interest in investment and his stated determination to reposition Abia.

I also have no appointment to seek from his government, nor am I seeking an elective position. My interest remains the security, development, dignity and welfare of our people.

And, to be fair to Governor Otti, there are things his administration has done in Ngwa areas that deserve acknowledgement regardless of one’s political affiliation.
Consider the airport project at Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North. The project is physically located on Ngwa soil.
But the project is real and not a rumour. It is not a WhatsApp message. It is not an allegation about a private conversation.
It is a physical project that can be inspected, measured and debated.

The same applies to the Governor’s decision to celebrate and preserve the legacy of the late Chief Jaja Anucha Wachuku, one of the towering figures produced by Ngwaland.

On January 1, 2026, the Abia State Government marked Wachuku’s 108th posthumous birthday, unveiled his renovated country home and library, and restored his tomb. Governor Otti described him as a brilliant lawyer (not “brainless”), great icon and exceptional human being. That is significant.

Jaja Wachuku was not merely an Abia personality. He was Nigeria’s first indigenous Speaker of the House of Representatives, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and a towering Nigerian statesman. Governor Otti’s decision to restore his home and publicly honour his legacy deserves recognition. It is a validation of the Ngwaman as brilliant, and not otherwise.

A government does not honour a people’s historical heroes by accident. At the very least, such an act demonstrates a public recognition of the historical contribution of Ngwaland to Nigeria.

And there is more.
Governor Otti has also spoken publicly about the importance of recognising Abia’s heroes and preserving the State’s historical identity. His administration’s official record shows repeated references to merit, development and inclusion across the state. These are matters that can be examined without sentiment.

If Chief Charles Ogbonna says Governor Otti privately described Ngwa people as “brainless”, then the appropriate questions are what evidence exists?
Can that evidence be independently examined?

Governor Otti has denied making the statement, and the State Government has publicly challenged Chief Ogbonna to produce evidence supporting his allegation. Until evidence is produced, the allegation remains an allegation.

That is not an argument for Governor Otti merely because he is Governor. It is an argument for a basic principle of public discourse. An allegation should not be promoted into a fact simply because it is repeated often enough.

I have known Chief Charles Ogbonna for many years. I was there when many of the political battles were being fought. I was there when the 2003 political understanding was reached. I was there when 2007 came and the expected transition to Ukwa-Ngwa did not happen. I was there when the Great Ukwa-Ngwa Declaration was made in 2019. I was there through many of the political struggles that followed. Indeed, I drafted the 2003 understanding. I know on whose side he fought. Therefore, I do not need anybody to tell me that political circumstances change.

There is nothing inherently wrong with changing political allegiance. Politics is dynamic.
But when political positions change, history does not disappear. Yesterday remains part of the record. The proper response is to examine the record. That same principle applies to the continuing contest over Abia Central. For years, the Senate seat and other strategic political positions associated with the Zone have been subjects of intense competition between its Umuahia and Ngwa components.
That history should not be rewritten merely because new political ambitions are emerging for 2027. Political agreements, understandings and expectations should be discussed openly, honestly and historically.

Ngwa people are capable of listening to competing narratives and deciding for themselves. Because we are brilliant.

We should not be told whom to love.
We should not be told whom to hate.
And we should not be told that supporting one politician automatically makes a person the sole defender of Ngwa interests or not.
That is too simplistic for a people with such a long political memory.

I do not need gossip about what Governor Otti allegedly said in a private room. I have watched the politics. I have participated in the struggles. I have walked away from government. I have contested elections.
I have challenged governments. I have helped reconcile political opponents. I have convened the Great Ukwa-Ngwa Declaration twice.
And I have sat across the table from Dr Alex Otti discussing what should happen to Abia and what should happen to Ngwaland. But I have not seen the alleged recording or other evidence establishing the private conversation between Governor Otti and Chief Charles Ogbonna.

The only thing I saw, and the world saw, was Chief Charles Ogbonna invoking the gods against an Ngwa son, and Ngwaland “never to become Governor in his lifetime”. But in sharp contrast, God answered by fire, moving the entirety of the government house administration to Nvosi, the heartland of Ngwaland. I can only add that the God of Ndingwa will continue to use “foolish things to confound the wise”.

It would therefore be intellectually dishonest for me to treat an unverified allegation as established fact. And a verified fact as “brainless”.

The question should therefore not be who speaks most passionately about Ngwa. The question is whether the claims being made can withstand examination. That is the essence of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. The prophets shouted. They performed. They made claims. But eventually, the question was not who shouted the loudest. The question was whether there was evidence.

For Ngwaland, the lesson is equally simple, political theatre is not evidence. An allegation is not proof. A political conversion is not a political record. And a declaration of love for Ngwaland does not, by itself, establish a history of defending Ngwa interests. Let the evidence be placed on the table. Let the records be examined. Let history speak. And let the people judge for themselves.

For me and my followers, we will continue to stand on the side of evidence.
To accept hearsay as a way of life would be to surrender one of the qualities that has sustained the Ngwa people through generations. The capacity to think, to question and to judge for themselves. That is definitely not the Ngwa I know.

Ochiagha Reagan Ufomba
Former Governorship Candidate, 2011
Data Scientist and Business Analyst