Nature abhors ingratitude. Grace withdraws where there is ingratitude. Ingratitude is rebellion against grace; and anointing withers in the face of rebellion.
There was a time when Dr. Alex Chioma Otti stood as a symbol of hope in Abia State, a man divinely painted as the technocrat who would rescue the state from years of corruption and darkness. Becoming the Executive Governor of Abia State was beyond the making of men; it was the perfect work of God.
Abia is the only state in Nigeria bearing the acronym “God’s Own State” yet, has endured the worst of bad governance, neglect, and deliberate backwardness in all facets of leadership, occasioned by evil leaders who bled her resources dry.
Ndi Abia cried out to God for deliverance, desperate for a saviour. And then came Alex Chioma Otti, a man who seemed to fit the prophetic bill.
But time, like light, has a way of exposing what darkness hides. Today, that same man stands on the ruins of grace, consumed by pride, fighting battles he was never meant to fight, and watching the very people who lifted him to power turn their backs in deep disappointment.
Before the Labour Party, Alex Otti was a political outcast, a vagabond in the wilderness of ambition. His journey was a tale of rejection: he wandered through APGA and was kicked out, through PDP, and APC, and each spat him out. He was a man without a political home, without structure, and without credibility in the rough terrain of Abia politics.
Then came the Labour Party – pure, fiery, and full of hope – the ark of deliverance that carried him to destiny. Under the compassionate and visionary leadership of Barr. Julius Abure, the indefatigable National Chairman of the Labour party, and the unflinching loyalty of Hon. Ceekay Igara, then the Abia State Chairman (now the Vice National Chairman, South-East, and Chairman of Chairmen), Otti found both voice and platform.
The Labour Party didn’t just receive him; it washed away the reproach of rejection and disgrace. It took a man the system had discarded and made him the face of a movement.
What many forget is the immense sacrifice and loyalty of those leaders. Both Abure and Igara were offered mouthwatering temptations, huge financial inducements, and political promises from the highest quarters – all to betray Otti and block his candidacy. Yet, they refused. They stood by him, protected his mandate when the world wanted to destroy it, and fought, bled, and prayed for his success. They stood as midwives to his destiny.
Governor Alex Otti sits on that throne today because there were men who refused to bow to bribery and intimidation.
But the throne has a way of revealing the true heart of its occupant. Like King Saul, when Otti finally tasted power, he forgot those who anointed him.
Power became a test he passed in failure with distinction. Once victory was secured by the Labour party, the reformer turned ruler. He distanced himself from the party that made him, undermined its structure, and treated its leaders with disdain.
He hired mercenaries to destabilize the very structure that lifted him. He fought to hijack the party leadership and worked tirelessly to relegate the Labour Party in Abia State.
The man who once knelt before the altar of grace began to walk as if he were the altar itself. He forgot that no man sustains grace he refuses to honour.
Barr. Julius Abure, who risked his integrity to defend Otti’s mandate, suddenly became an inconvenience to his ambition. Hon. Ceekay Igara, who resisted golden offers to betray him, became a target of his subtle disrespect. Otti began to war against the same priesthood that anointed him. He despised the movement that birthed him. His gratitude turned into suspicion; his confidence, into arrogance.
It was Governor Otti who conspired with other ingrates in the party to assemble at the infamous “Umuahia Stakeholders’ Committee” – a rebellious gathering not recognized by the Labour Party constitution.
The objective was clear: to execute a coup, to unlawfully overthrow the legitimate leadership of the party. That meeting produced Ms. Nenadi Usman as leader of the gang of invaders, a coalition that sought to hijack the party from its foundation and silence its true custodians.
Their rebellion was not just political; it was spiritual. It was a fight against divine order, against the very structure that gave them relevance. They plotted to replace conviction with compromise and sought to align the Labour Party with forces of corruption that Nigerians had long rejected.
But God is not mocked.
Today, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed Barr. Julius Abure as the only recognized and legitimate National Chairman of the Labour Party, dealing a fatal blow to the Otti–Nenadi conspiracy. What they meant for political domination has now returned as divine correction. The handwriting was clear: the counsel of men cannot overthrow the will of God.
Ingratitude dries grace faster than any sin. When a man turns his back on the bridge that carried him, he condemns himself to drown in the river of his own ego.
Otti forgot that the boat that ferried him across was not built by his own hands. He deceived himself into believing he was the alpha and omega of his destiny.
He forgot that oil is only sustained under obedience and submission. Like Saul, he reached for the sword against his own David – the one God raised to realign Abia to truth. He sought to silence the very voices that once prayed him through.
The tragedy of Saul was not murder or corruption; David was not a perfect man either. Saul’s downfall came when he lost gratitude and rebelled against the prophet who anointed him.
Heaven abhors the ungrateful. Saul fought the one who lifted him, and in that moment, he declared war against his own destiny.
History repeats itself. Otti has turned against the structure that birthed him, and now heaven has raised the hand of a David, a man after divine order, destined to restore Abia to her true purpose.
The handwriting is clear: Otti has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
The same people who once celebrated him now question his every move. The same voices that shouted “Freedom!” now whisper “Where is the change?”
When God withdraws His hand, even the smallest wind becomes a storm. Today, Otti is surrounded by battles on every side, public outrage, internal rebellion and sabotage, and rising allegations of financial misconduct.
The opposition now accuses his government of mismanaging public funds, awarding inflated contracts, and running governance through a circle of cronies rather than through institutional transparency. The Abia of promise is gradually turning into a state of propaganda, a place where image laundering replaces performance, and political spin replaces service.
Abians are rising, asking hard questions:
What has he done with the billions flowing into the state monthly?
Where are the infrastructural reforms he promised?
Why has his administration become a fortress of secrecy instead of a beacon of accountability?
Where is the light of the new Abia?
The grace that once attracted favour has turned to judgment. The same people who prayed for him now pray against him.
Like Saul, Otti is fighting not just men, but divine order itself.
Every fall begins with forgetfulness. When a man forgets who helped him rise, God reminds him through humiliation.
Otti was chosen, lifted, and celebrated. Now, he sees himself as the source of his own success and has forgotten the sacrifice of those who stood for him. He persecutes the very hands God used to lift him. He mocks his foundation and fights his covering.
Heaven’s shield has lifted, and enemies multiply. Sadly, he has sent away those who would have defended him, replacing conviction with paid praise, substance with spectacle.
Now, he hires bloggers to promote him, adorns women in colourful wrappers to sing his praises, and pays men to clap.
He was once the face of deliverance; today, he stands as a warning.
Otti’s fall is not political, it is spiritual. Ingratitude dries grace. Rebellion ends reign. And when God replaces Saul, no army can keep him on the throne.
He must return to the path of gratitude, rebuild the bridge with Barr. Julius Abure, Hon. Ceekay Igara, and the Labour Party. He must remember this eternal truth: no man fights his source and wins.
And if he will not repent, then let Abia prepare, for a David is coming.
