Abia State’s Governor Alex Otti has warned that those planning to manipulate and rig the 2027 governorship election should be prepared to face dire consequences and might as well write their will beforehand.
The Governor stated this during a monthly meeting with journalists at the Government House in Umuahia, the state capital, on Thursday.
Otti, who won the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the Labour Party (LP), is currently in his first term of four years in office.
The Governor said he had received reports that some political actors were already holding meetings and planning to “take over the state” through unlawful means ahead of the 2027 polls.
“The only advice I have for them is that if they truly want to write result, they should write something else before that time — you know what it is? Their will. Because this is our state, nobody can intimidate us.”
Governor Otti also cautioned politicians against engaging in premature political campaigns, noting that doing so contravenes electoral laws.
Otti urged aspirants and their supporters to wait for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to officially announce the timetable for political campaigns.
“We must respect the law. If INEC releases the timetable and says this is the time that campaign starts, if you start campaigning before then, you put yourself in harm’s way — you can even be disqualified before the election,” he said.
The governor emphasised that any political gathering or public declaration of intention before INEC’s official timetable amounts to early campaigning.
“When you gather people and you’re telling them you’re going to take over the state in 2027, you’re campaigning. It is not right,” he said.
