By Kingston Magare 25.9.2026
Abia State governor, Dr Alex Otti said he could have been a dead man long time ago but for God who directed his footsteps to leave Abuja, the night assassins tried to take his life.
Otti was reflecting on a 2015 incident when he was challenging the outcome of the Abia governorship election. He was giving testimony Thursday night at the ‘Abia Solemn Assembly and Covenant Renewal Service’ in Umuahia, organised by the state government with the theme, “Remembering the Covenant.”
He said he was in Abuja waiting to have a meeting, which later failed to hold and he had the compulsion to leave Abuja even as friends persuaded him to stay since it was late in the evening.
“There was only one flight from Abuja to Owerri then.
“All my friends objected. I said, well, I have received a message that I must leave Abuja,” Otti narrated.
“So, to make it make sense, I told them I wanted to be at the tribunal on Friday, so they grudgingly accepted.
“That night, the assassins attacked my residence in Abuja, shot two policemen dead, and they were looking for me.
“Of course, God had taken me away,” Otti said.
He said the intruders practically turned his house upside down looking for him.
“When they finished and couldn’t find me. They were convinced I was there.
“They had so much time and were not in a hurry to leave. By the way, this was Maitama. They jumped into the next compound, and I learnt that they were up to 12. They jumped into the next compound, and stripped the whole building.
“They thought I jumped the fence and escaped, but I already left. There was no reason for me not to be there but God had taken me away from there.”
The governor also recalled how some people advised him against going into politics, while others suggested that he seek spiritual protection through traditional means.
“A lot of friends, after trying to dissuade me, found I couldn’t be dissuaded. They said, okay, if you decided to do this thing, you can’t go in there empty-handed.
“You can’t go there without belonging to some societies.
“You can’t go there without going to some native doctors for protection and you will be shocked at the kind of people that are making these suggestions and some of them are leaders in churches,” he said.