The story of how Abraham Lincoln became the 18th
President of America in 1861 is quite famous.
Despite his many political failures, he eventually succeeded giving rise to one of his most famous sayings, “if you fail the first time, try again.”
Such is the case of Alex Otti, the former Managing Director of the now-defunct Diamond Bank. In the prime of his banking career, Otti was unceremoniously ousted from the bank which was eventually acquired by Access Bank Plc.
In the hues and cries that trailed his retirement, there were talks that he left the industry which brought him fame and fortune to pursue a political career, while the stench of the speculation that he was removed from office to avail Dozie Uzoma the opportunity to grow in his career just could not be suppressed.
Indeed, with Otti’s exit came Dozie’s appointment as
Group Managing Director (GMD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Diamond Bank.
Having left the bank, Otti joined politics and gunned for the first office in Abia State. As the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), he failed twice to clinch his objective. 2015, was a near win, but Otti’s dream was truncated by the Supreme Court.
Then, in 2023, he contested the state gubernatorial election under Labour Party (LP), where he eventually found success like Lincon on Wednesday, March 22.
According to Professor Nnenna, the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the election, Otti scored a total of 175,467 votes to beat his main challenger, Chief Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered a total of 88,529 votes.
Indeed, Otti has eventually arrived at his destination giving meaning to what he said in a newspaper interview in 2022.
“I started a journey in 2015 and have not got to my destination yet. I have two options: either continue until I get to the destination or go back to where I was coming from. I cannot stop midway. If I have to go back to where I was coming from, then, there wouldn’t have been any need to start the journey in the first place. The only real option open to me, therefore is to continue to my destination.”
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