Gov. Alex Otti of Abia has urged Nigerian youths to join politics to decide their fate and make a difference.
Otti gave the advice during Church Service at The Transforming Church (TTC), on Sunday in Abuja.
He explained that every society needs the leadership it deserves, saying: “If you sit back and say politics is for politicians, the politicians will decide everything for you.
“I am challenging all the young people here. Don’t shy away from politics. That is where decisions about your future are made.”
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Quoting Psalms 62:11, the governor said that power belongs to God and advised the youths against shying away from power.
“You can make a lot of changes if you have power, and that is what politics will give you to create the changes you want to see in the lives of your people.
“This is because, holding a political office affords people the opportunity to affect the lives of more people than one can imagine,” he said.
Otti said that he left the banking sector in 2014 and joined politics to make a difference by doing things differently.
He said that as the governor of Abia, he could affect the entire population of the state by just one action.
He called on Christians not to pray alone but compliment it with hard work, adding that that way, their dreams and aspirations would come through.
During the sermon, the lead pastor of the church, Rev. Sam Oye, who spoke on the goodness of God, called on Nigerians to keep their faith strong and not to give up on their dreams.
Reading from Psalm 119:68, Oye stressed the need for people to learn how to be good to others.
He thanked the Otti for visiting the church and reiterated the commitment of the church in praying for those in positions of leadership.
People get type of leadership they deserve – Gov. Otti
Dr Alex Otti has also said every society gets the type of leadership it deserves.
He said that time had gone when children of God would sit idly and allow persons who had no good mission for the society to take up leadership positions in the country.
“If you sit back and conclude that politics is for ‘them’, the politicians would determine your destiny for you,” he said.
He said that power belongs to God and as such, children of God should be involved in governance.
“There is a saying in the scripture that power belongs to God; if that is so, why are the children of God shying away from politics?
“From getting into politics and power, you can affect a lot of changes.
“As the former managing director of Diamond Bank, from 2011 to 2023, I could only affect a little population.
“But as a governor of a state today, I have a larger population of people to affect their lives for the good of the society.
“For instance, on coming in, we realised that our people were suffering; so, we identified 10,000 of them and put one billion naira into their hands cumulatively without any interest.
“By that, we created 10,000 jobs. Just recently too, we disbursed 365 million naira interest free loans to 300 farmers.
“All of these have changed the landscape, and I couldn’t have done them if I wasn’t in power,” he said.
Narrating the events preceding his assumption of power, he said that his election victory was essentially a divine arrangement by God.
The governor said that God used Oye to advise him to not only pray, but to also work hard.
“Most people only pray and go to sleep without working hard to achieve success.
“Just 48 hours to the election, the returning officer for Abia was changed and a woman professor from Owerri was brought to the state.
“I was a bit panicky, but didn’t know that God was rearranging things by using her to replace the former returning officer.
“Everything was done to influence this woman after the ballots were cast, but she refused to be influenced, until the correct results were announced and we were announced as winners on March 22, 2023.
“I want to thank Rev. Sam, his wife and entire TTC family for standing by me.
“I am, therefore, challenging all young men not to shy away from politics because that is where decisions that affect their lives are made,” Otti added.
